Wow, were they off 2-3 days ago on the track of Sally - they had it going much farther to the west before it made landfall.
Unfortunately, Sally is now blowing up at the last minute with with the eye having just closed off and winds increasing from 80 mph at 5 pm to 105 mph as of a special 2 am update. Storm is still moving very slowly (2-3 mph) with the center of the eye only 30 miles offshore, but still has ~8 hours over water before landfall around Gulf Shores AL, just 15-20 miles east of Mobile and just ~20 miles west of Pensacola and could strengthen just a bit more. Note that with a 30 mile wide eye, the eyewall will very likely stretch from Mobile Bay on the west to just about Pensacola on the east. This could lead to increased storm surges back to where they were 30 hours ago, i.e., back up to 6-9' for the area from Mobile to just east of Pensacola, instead of the current 4-6'.
Hurricane Milton Update Statement
www.nhc.noaa.gov
000
WTNT64 KNHC 160555
TCUAT4
Hurricane Sally Tropical Cyclone Update
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL192020
100 AM CDT Wed Sep 16 2020
...SALLY CONTINUING TO STRENGTHEN, A SPECIAL ADVISORY IS COMING OUT
SHORTLY...
Recent data from An Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft and
the Mobile Alabama Doppler weather radar indicate that Sally's
maximum sustained winds have increased to 105 mph (165 km/h).
Further strengthening is possible, and a Special Advisory will be
issued within 15 minutes in lieu of the intermediate advisory to
update the intensity forecast.
SUMMARY OF 100 AM CDT...0600 UTC...INFORMATION
----------------------------------------------
LOCATION...29.9N 87.8W
ABOUT 60 MI...95 KM SSE OF MOBILE ALABAMA
ABOUT 55 MI...85 KM SW OF PENSACOLA FLORIDA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...105 MPH...165 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT...NNE OR 030 DEGREES AT 2 MPH...4 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...968 MB...28.58 INCHES
$$
Forecaster Stewart/Blake
Sunday afternoon was the last forecast with it hitting near New Orleans (2.5 days ago) and it made landfall 140 miles east of there, which is pretty far off for that timeframe. Laura, for example, was nearly spot on 3 days out. The slow movement was a big part of that - tracks are very hard to forecast accurately without clear steering currents. Intensity also yo-yo-ed quite a bit the last few days, which is really hard to predict.Wow, were they off 2-3 days ago on the track of Sally - they had it going much farther to the west before it made landfall.
Latest on Hurricane Teddy: Several models have the track edging further west and south even hitting New England. Hurricane is expected to be a major Cat 3.Hurricane Teddy : One model has Teddy forecasted as major hurricane - category 3 - to hit Bermuda and then to hit east coast in Nova Scotia / New Foundland area
Long way off for sure but bears watching.
Latest on Hurricane Teddy: Several models have the track edging further west and south even hitting New England. Hurricane is expected to be a major Cat 3.
Long way out and so much can change but pay attention.
Latest on Hurricane Teddy: Several models have the track edging further west and south even hitting New England. Hurricane is expected to be a major Cat 3.
Long way out and so much can change but pay attention.
Maine is not out of the danger zone. I understand currently the cone of uncertainty does not include Maine but a quick wiggle to the west and Maine is impacted. Right now Nova Scotia is in the bullseye.
Given what I saw from the Hurricane Sally forecasts, the models were off in terms of where the storm landed and it’s aftermath heading as far north as Virginia etc.
Within 48 hours the models grossly miscalculated a landfall way west and an exit of the storm way south.
Hope Teddy is a fish storm.
Board always comes through on the important things, lol...
Should be in the 30s the next 4 mornings, with some patchy frost possible in the coldest locations; frost advisories are up all over the place not far N/W of Sussex County.Do we get into the 30s in Sussex this weekend?
Should be in the 30s the next 4 mornings, with some patchy frost possible in the coldest locations; frost advisories are up all over the place not far N/W of Sussex County.
The busiest tropical season, ever, to date, continues.
Teddy will not be striking the US and probably won't even be that close to Maine.
Wilfred formed in the far east Atlantic, but is no threat to anyone.
However TD-22, soon to be Alpha in the GOM, is a threat to the Texas coast in 4-6 days and if it doesn't hi TX during that time, could meander up along the coast beyond that, eventually threatening LA or other locations.
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Would this storm even have been acknowledged 20, 40 years ago?So about alpha. This was one of the shortest-lived storms I've ever seen (about 6 hours), as it formed earlier today, as a subtropical storm and made landfall in Portugal this evening with 45-50 mph winds, which is very unusual.
Just got back from the truck rest stop around exit 19 on Rt. 80 West - Tyler was doing some star photography - it was quite brisk there.
Would this storm even have been acknowledged 20, 40 years ago?
This crazy season continues. We now have tropical storm beta (not alpha - see below), our 23rd named storm this year (ahead of 2005's record pace, with 2005 reaching 28) which was named this afternoon in the Gulf and is forecast to meander slowly towards the central Texas coast near Victoria in 3-4 days, while strengthening into a Cat 1 hurricane, after which it's forecast to turn NE and parallel the TX coast, moving more quickly, coming very close to Houston in 5 days. Slow moving storms are very hard to predict and the GOM is still pretty damn warm, so lots of uncertainty on this track and intensity forecasat.
So about alpha. This was one of the shortest-lived storms I've ever seen (about 6 hours), as it formed earlier today, as a subtropical storm and made landfall in Portugal this evening with 45-50 mph winds, which is very unusual.
Teddy continues churning through the Atlantic as a Cat 4 hurricane (130 mph now) and will come within about 75-100 miles of Bermuda, but there shouldn't be any major impacts (unlike Paulette last week). Teddy will likely slam into Nova Scotia in about 4 days as an 85-90 mph "extratropical hurricane" i.e., as a hurricane strength storm transitioning from tropical (warm core) to extratropical (cold core). We will see large swells, heavy surf and riptides starting by Sunday and lasting a few days.
Lastly, weak TS Wilfred in the central Atlantic is likely to dissipate to nothing over the next few days.
National Hurricane Center
www.nhc.noaa.gov
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We now have a new tropical depression (TD-25) in the Caribbean, just SE of the Yucatan Peninsula, about to become the 24th named storm of the season (Gamma, iirc). Right now the storm doesn't look like much and isn't predicted to become much, but one always has to worry about slow moving storms in the very warm GOM, so need to watch this after day 5...
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at5+shtml/150146.shtml?cone#contents
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Well, TS Gamma has been meandering around the Yucatan region this weekend, bringing flooding rains to that area and will continue to do so for the next few day before likely dissipating in the GOM just north of there. However, TD-26 has formed not far from where Gamma formed, but this system is very likely to become TS, then hurricane Delta over the next few days, as it moves mostly NW from the Caribbean through the Straits of Yucatan or just over the western tip of Cuba (possibly as a Cat 1 hurricane) and then heads north towards the northern Gulf Coast.
Unfortunately the 5-day NHC forecast has the center of the track placing Delta right over New Orleans as a Cat 2 hurricane in 120 hours. So far, NO has dodged two major bullets this season, as both Laura and Sally at about 5 days out were forecast to make landfall in the NO area, but fortunately, steering currents were weak for those storms 5-days out and conditions changed and those storms made landfall well west (Laura) and east (Sally) of New Orleans, just bringing moderate rains (not unusual as the error on the track center is +/- 200 miles at 5 days). We'll see how this one pans out, but this time the steering currents look to be better defined than they were for those two other storms, so NO is probably in more danger from this storm.
FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS
INIT 05/0300Z 17.0N 77.3W 30 KT 35 MPH
12H 05/1200Z 17.4N 78.3W 35 KT 40 MPH
24H 06/0000Z 18.3N 79.8W 40 KT 45 MPH
36H 06/1200Z 20.0N 81.9W 50 KT 60 MPH
48H 07/0000Z 22.2N 84.4W 65 KT 75 MPH
60H 07/1200Z 24.1N 87.0W 80 KT 90 MPH
72H 08/0000Z 25.4N 88.8W 85 KT 100 MPH
96H 09/0000Z 27.2N 90.4W 90 KT 105 MPH
120H 10/0000Z 30.0N 89.9W 75 KT 85 MPH...INLAND
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at1+shtml/023600.shtml?cone#contents
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If the forecast track holds, Perdido will be fine, as the center of the forecast track is almost 200 miles west of there, so Perdido is righ on the edge of the "cone of uncertainty." However, I really don't think this will be like Sally, whose track forecast was made incredibly difficult by the lack of steering currents, resulting in a crawling storm (3-5 mph) and a 150 mile error 3 days out (forecast to hit SE LA, but hit east of Mobile), which is huge.Looks like perdido key will get another hit. What’s the expected rain amt and wind force.
I watched Weather Underground tonight on the weather channel just out of curiosity - they presented such a huge range of possibilities on where it will hit based on all of these factors that it's almost silly they're trying to make a forecast. They say things like: "Delta is going to become a major hurricane unless it runs into wind shear, but at this point that seems unlikely although it's too early to forecast." What? They talk about the effect Gamma will have on it, but they're not sure if Gamma will do that. Blah, blah, blah.Delta is forecast to be moving at >15 mph from hrs 72-120, which is much faster than Sally and much easier to forecast accurately. At this point, I'd be surprised if the actual track is off by more than 100 miles from the current forecast. Even if the track is 100 miles east of the current forecast, that's still ~100 miles west of Perdido, which would just then bring some heavy rains and maybe tropical storm force gusts and a few feet of surge, which is way, way, less than they got from Sally. On the current track, heavy rain would be the only real risk with maybe some minor tidal flooding. The key thing to watch is when does the storm turn north - if it's after it has reached ~91W early Thursday, then Perdido should end up doing ok. Good luck.
I watched Weather Underground tonight on the weather channel just out of curiosity - they presented such a huge range of possibilities on where it will hit based on all of these factors that it's almost silly they're trying to make a forecast. They say things like: "Delta is going to become a major hurricane unless it runs into wind shear, but at this point that seems unlikely although it's too early to forecast." What? They talk about the effect Gamma will have on it, but they're not sure if Gamma will do that. Blah, blah, blah.
Unfortunately, TS Delta has strengthened fairly rapidly today, from a 35 mph TD at 5 am to a 70 mph TS at 5 pm and strengthening is expected to continue for the next day or two, until Delta reaches major, Cat 3 hurricane strength as it grazes the Yucatan Peninsula coast right near Cancun in about 36 hours (with 120 mph winds forecast by then).
After that, the storm is forecast to continue NW through the GOM, turning north towards the LA coast, with landfall expected late Friday, although most likely as a Cat 2 storm, after some weakening. The weakening is forecast due to the combination of increased SWerly shear and cooler waters (than normal) near the Gulf Coast, but relying on weakening in the last day or so before landfall is a risky proposition.
All the usual caveats apply, i.e., track forecasts are +/- 160 miles at 4 days out, so anywhere from the TX/LA border to the NW FL Panhandle needs to watch this closely, but this is looking like a storm with a greater than usual track confidence given fairly well defined steering currents, which means New Orleans might not escape this one. Also, intensity forecasts are usually much less accurate than track forecasts, so the storm could easily be 20-30 mph weaker or stronger than the 100 mph forecast at landfall in LA. And all the usual risks apply: life-threatening storm surge (especially on the east side of landfall), high winds, flooding rains (4-8" possible along the coast and well inland), tornadoes on the NE side, downed trees/power outages, etc.
FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS
INIT 05/2100Z 16.2N 79.4W 60 KT 70 MPH
12H 06/0600Z 17.1N 80.9W 75 KT 85 MPH
24H 06/1800Z 19.0N 83.5W 95 KT 110 MPH
36H 07/0600Z 21.0N 86.2W 105 KT 120 MPH
48H 07/1800Z 22.6N 88.7W 105 KT 120 MPH
60H 08/0600Z 23.7N 90.6W 105 KT 120 MPH
72H 08/1800Z 24.8N 91.5W 95 KT 110 MPH
96H 09/1800Z 28.5N 91.5W 85 KT 100 MPH
120H 10/1800Z 33.0N 89.0W 40 KT 45 MPH...INLAND
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at1+shtml/174744.shtml?cone#contents
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Why would you say that? Think the Euro is the only one that's even in western LA (although it is still the best model). Most of the model tracks are below (but not the Euro).Looks for now to hit near Texas/La boarder.
Yeah using European model