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3 August 2012
Someone Turned On The Switch In The Tropical Atlantic
Besides Ernesto just north of South America, we have a tropical wave near the Bahamas and another looking very healthy off the coast of Africa this afternoon. The tropics are really heating up now. It’s tIme to check on your hurricane kits if you live near the coast.
24 June 2012
Debby Drifting Northeastward- NHC Track Change
As I wrote earlier today, the track on Debby remains very difficult but now the Euro model is drifting it slowly into the Florida Panhandle. Heavy rains, and even some tornadoes have been reported over mainland Florida and more is on the way. The story of Debby will be water, not wind. If you had plans for the Gulf Coast this week from Pensacola eastward, it’s time to cancel them. Debby may …
Forecast Track For Debby: You’re On Your Own Son!
Sometimes when I make a forecast, I know that it will be correct. I might miss the high or the low by a degree or two, but in general the weather will play out almost exactly as I expected. Then, there are those days when I know that it very likely will be just the opposite! Sometimes, I would just like to use that famous line from Blazing Saddles, “You’re …
23 June 2012
Tropical Trouble Brewing In The Gulf
UPDATE 4PM EDT Saturday: As I thought- Tropical Storm Debby has formed. NHC Issued tropical storm warnings for the Louisiana Coast. We may already have a tropical depression in the Gulf this afternoon, and we may have Tropical Storm Debby in a few hours. The area of thunderstorms is definitely looking more organised and a weak circulation is visible. There is no convection around the center yet, so it may …
20 June 2012
Simpson of Saffir- Simpson is 100
Happy Birthday to Robert Simpson who is now 100 years old! He developed the scale with Herbert Saffir, and it will likely be used for many more years. Doyle Rice at USA Today wrote a great piece on Simpson which also has a quote from my friend Bobby Henson at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. The scale:
2 June 2012
Unmanned Drones To Fly Into Hurricanes In August
The use of unmanned drones has been a very controversial political issue in recent months, but NOAA (NASA is funding the experiment) is planning to use them in a very useful (and non-controversial) way. They will be flying a bunch of complex instruments into hurricanes in August and September over the next 3 years. These instrument equipped drones will be able to fly for 30 hours and will drop some specially designed (by …
30 May 2012
Two Storms Already (and it’s not even open season on hurricanes yet!)
Climate Central produced some nice graphics showing just how warm the Atlantic and Gulf is right now. The intensity and number of hurricanes does not solely depend on ocean temperatures but it is a major factor. We’ve already had two tropical systems and the official season in the Atlantic does not start until Midnight Friday. Look at the ocean back in 1991 which produced a rather quiet tropical storm season and …
27 May 2012
Smoke From New Mexico Fire Reaches East Coast; Beryl Approaches Florida
Update 1930 GMT Sunday: Beryl is now a full fledged Tropical Storm. The huge wildfire fire in SW New Mexico Friday has produced smoke that covers much of Texas and Louisiana today, and the latest Terra satellite image from NASA shows the smoke over Western Maryland and much of Southern Pennsylvania. The image above was taken yesterday and if you look closely you can still see the smoke plume in SW New Mexico. …
19 May 2012
Tropical Storm Alberto! In May??
(Update: Tropical Storm Alberto has now formed per NHC) Just looking at this image, it seems a tropical depression may be forming off the South Carolina coast. There is a circulation but that does not mean it is a “warm core” system. It is not that rare for a tropical system to form from a cold core surface low over the ocean, but to get one in the Atlantic in mid May is VERY …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.