“Isaias” weakened slightly yesterday into “tropical storm” status and it remains so early Sunday morning despite a burst of deep convection in the overnight hours. That burst of thunderstorm activity has not resulted in any significant improvement in the overall structure of “Isaias” which is currently about 40 miles southeast of West Palm Beach, FL and it is not outside the realm of possibility that it regains enough strength later today to reach weak hurricane status. Nonetheless, “Isaias” will ride up to fairly close to the east-central coastline of Florida with some heavy rainfall and strong winds to last about 12 hours or so once they begin later this morning. On Monday, “Isaias” will begin to take a turn to the north and then northeast and likely make landfall somewhere in the Carolinas - perhaps as a hurricane. After that, “Isaias” will continue to ride up along the east coast and generate a major rain and wind event for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US - ultimately resulting in impact extending all the from Florida to Maine.
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“Isaias” became the second hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic Basin tropical season in the overnight hours as it pulled away from the island of Hispaniola and out over the very warm waters of the southwest Atlantic Ocean. The 2020 Atlantic Basin tropical season has gotten off to a very active start - now with nine named systems – and it will very likely remain quite dynamic as we begin the month of August. In fact, a couple other tropical waves are now churning over the eastern and central tropical Atlantic - virtually guaranteeing the energetic season will continue in coming days. Hurricane “Isaias” is likely to continue on a NW track over the next 24-36 hours that will bring to a position just off the east coast of Florida this weekend with significant impacts to the Bahama Islands and southern/eastern Florida. “Isaias” is now classified as a category 1 hurricane and there is a chance it intensifies to a category 2 storm before it makes its closest approach to Florida’s east coast. After that, “Isaias” may very well ride up along the east coast ultimately resulting in a significant rain event all the way from Florida to eastern New England.
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The 2020 Atlantic Basin tropical season has gotten off to a very active start now with nine named storms - the newest one being “Isaias”. Tropical Storm “Isaias” has been pounding away at Puerto Rico since last night with torrential rainfall and is now interacting with the island of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic). This particular island has mountainous terrain with peaks of over 10,000 feet and it is likely to limit the intensification of “Isaias” – at least in the short-term. In addition, an interaction with this northern Caribbean island frequently causes a “re-positioning” of the low-level circulation center of a given tropical cyclone so we’ll look for that to take place over the next 12-24 hours. After that, Tropical Storm “Isasis” is likely to significantly impact the Bahama Islands - perhaps as a hurricane - and likely take a track over or just off the east coast of Florida with substantial rainfall and strong winds on the table. There is a chance that the moisture field of the tropical storm then rides up along the southeast US coastline to the Carolinas - and potentially as far north as the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast US.
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The 2020 Atlantic Basin tropical season has gotten off to an active start with eight named storms already and another wave that has reached the Caribbean Sea is quite likely to become the ninth (“Isaias”). This latest tropical wave pushed off the west coast of Africa late last week and had somewhat limited intensification possibilities over the past few days as it battled with dry air in the central Atlantic that originated over the Sahara Desert region of northern Africa. As such, the tropical wave appeared rather elongated and disorganized yesterday morning, but has since “escaped” the dry air mass and is now becoming better organized. There is a good chance that this system will reach tropical storm status in the next 24 hours and continue on a west-to-northwest track which will result in an impact on the northern Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and Cuba as well as the Bahamas.
After that, the tropical system may very well impact Florida by later Saturday, but its intensification prospects beforehand may be somewhat limited due to its possible interaction with these islands and a possible increase in southwesterly wind shear. By early next week, the tropical system could begin to take a more northerly track as it interacts with an unusually strong upper-level trough that will be “digging” into the south-central US and slowing down in its eastward progression. As a result, its moisture field could very well ride northward along the east coast in the early part of next week - potentially resulting in a significant rain event all the way from Florida to the Northeast US.
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The 2020 Atlantic Basin tropical season has gotten off to an active start with eight named storms already and another (still unnamed) wave closing in on the Lesser Antilles. This latest tropical wave pushed off the west coast of Africa late last week and is likely to intensify over the next couple of days as it continues on a general west-to-northwest track. There is a high probability that this system intensifies enough to become classified as a tropical storm and, if so, it would be named “Isaias” – the ninth named storm of the still relatively young 2020 tropical season and the earliest date for the “I” storm. There is a good chance that this system continues on a track that’ll bring it to near Puerto Rico later this week and then to the southern Bahama Islands at weeks end. After that, there is a growing chance that the likely-to-be-named “Isaias” will threaten Florida and the Southeast US by the latter part of the upcoming weekend.
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The 2020 Atlantic Basin tropical season has gotten off to an active start with eight named storms already and another (still unnamed) wave over the central Atlantic. This latest tropical wave pushed off the west coast of Africa late last week and is likely to intensify over the next few days as it takes a general W-NW track. There is a good chance that this system moves first towards the northern Caribbean island chain and then to near the Bahamas over the next several days. Whether or not this tropical system ultimately impacts the Southeast US may be largely dependent on an unusually strong upper-level trough that is likely to dig into the south-central states by the weekend.
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The Atlantic Basin now features three tropical systems to closely monitor in this very active early part of the 2020 tropical season. Tropical Storm Hanna is churning westward across the Gulf of Mexico and is on a path to make landfall on Saturday in southeastern Texas - quite likely as a hurricane. Tropical Storm Gonzalo has been relatively steady recently in terms of its intensity, but there are signs that it should weaken over the next couple of days as it moves towards the Caribbean Sea. A third and quite large tropical wave has just emerged from the west coast of Africa and it has great potential for intensification over the next several days. This third system is likely to head to a position quite close to where Tropical Storm Gonzalo currently resides, and it very well could have an impact on the US in 10-15 days.
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A potpourri of topics today ranging from another day with a strong thunderstorm threat in the Mid-Atlantic region to an active Atlantic Basin tropical scene to an update on Comet NEOWISE which is making its closest approach to Earth later tonight. First, on the weather threat in the Mid-Atlantic region, yet another wave of energy aloft will combine with considerable amounts of moisture in the low and middle levels of the atmosphere to bring another shot at strong storms later today and tonight. Second, on the tropics, an impressive tropical wave over the central Gulf of Mexico is likely headed to the east coast of Texas by the early part of the weekend and it will result in heavy rainfall in that part of the southern US. A second tropical system, Tropical Storm Gonzalo, has run into a bit of dry air which has halted its intensification in recent hours as it continues to push towards the Caribbean Sea. A third tropical wave has just emerged off the west coast of Africa and it may become an important player to monitor next week. Finally, Comet NEOWISE makes its closest approach to the Earth later tonight and it won’t be back around these parts for about 6800 years.
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The Atlantic Basin tropical scene has become quite active with an impressive system over the eastern Gulf of Mexico and also a newly named tropical storm over the central tropical Atlantic. The Gulf system has a chance to intensify into a named tropical storm over the next couple of days as it heads towards the northwestern part of the Gulf and Tropical Storm Gonzalo could very well climb to hurricane status over the next couple of days in the central Atlantic.
Elsewhere, a wave of energy in the upper part of the atmosphere is combining with a stalled out frontal boundary zone and plenty of moisture to spark some strong thunderstorm activity at mid-day in the western part of the Mid-Atlantic region and across the Ohio Valley. Some of these thunderstorm cells will make it into the I-95 corridor at day’s end and likely reach strong-to-severe levels with the potential of damaging wind gusts of up to 60 mph, hail, frequent lightning and heavy rainfall.
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A wave of energy in the upper part of the atmosphere is combining with a stalled out frontal boundary zone and plenty of moisture to spark some strong thunderstorm activity in the western part of the Mid-Atlantic region and some of these cells will make it into the I-95 corridor at day’s end. An even stronger wave of energy aloft will likely generate thunderstorms later tomorrow for the Mid-Atlantic region and some of these can reach severe levels with heavy rainfall, hail and potential damaging wind gusts. Elsewhere, the Atlantic Basin tropical scene has become more active with two systems to monitor over the next few days and additional waves are drifting westward over Africa assuring an active last stretch of the month of July.
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