Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Possible Early Start

With hurricane season just around the corner, new developments in the gulf of Mexico have forecasters closely watching to see if this disturbance could be an early development of the tropical systems that have yet to come. The official start of the hurricane season is June 1st which is less than 2 weeks away. Forecasters predicted last year that the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane season could be above average with a possible 14 storms to hit the United States this year, and half of those storms becoming actual hurricanes. According to an article posted on CNN on December 10th of last year, “three of the season’s seven hurricanes will develop into intense or major storms, meaning Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Category 3 storms have sustained winds of at least 111 mph. There is a 63 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall on the United States.”
Last year’s Atlantic Hurricane season was recorded as the fourth busiest year since 1944 and the only year on record in which a major hurricane existed in every month from July through November in the North Atlantic. In total 16 named storms brewed from the Atlantic Ocean, in which 8 of those storms developed into hurricanes and out of those 8 hurricanes, 5 where classified as major. The season also featured a few other record breakers, including Tropical Storm fay which became the first storm ever in recorded history to make landfall onto Florida four times, and Hurricane Bertha which became the longest lived July cyclone on record for the Atlantic basin. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in a typical Atlantic Hurricane Season the basin will see 11 named storms, 6 hurricanes in which 2 of them are major.
Below is capture of what the GFS model is displaying for tomorrow (Thursday, May 21, 2009):
Forecast GFS Model
Tropical storms do not acquire names until they are designated tropical storms with sustained maximum winds of at least 39 mph and this disturbance at the moment looks to be bringing rain to Florida region and will head north, towards Louisiana by Sunday. Let’s keep a watchful eye!

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