00z gfs and 00z CMC are in. They are in somewhat better agreement although the CMC is further west.
They both agree that the upper level troff lifting out from 120hrs-132hrs will be the instigating event. THE SW end of it gets left behind in the E Caribbean and forms a TC when the trade winds resume to the north of it.
If the ridging over the gulf day 7-10 verifies It will likely force the storm to go over Nicaragua or Honduras.
Drifting around the Caribbean for 10 days in October/November doesn't really seem to likely. Probably going to get picked up by a troff or tucked under the ridge into the central American coast a lot sooner. It pulls some Mahomes moves this run to stay over water.
Okay the 00z CMC has a storm, now I'm officially interested since it's on at least 2 models.
00z GFS says it's >50% of the ACE for the entire 2022 season. Seems to be the trend for the GFS this season.
Icon is trying to develop something at 120hrs in the S central Caribbean. This is close to what the EPS members had. If 90L develops it will be this weekend or early next week after it gets past the ULL.
Ian certainly had the capacity to kill hundreds if they didn't evacuate. Keep in mind there are a lot of elderly in the Ft Myers area plenty with limited physical capability or special medication needs.
I'd feel much better about it's long term prospects if it didn't have the ULL to survive. It will likely reverse most of the organization that occurs in the next 36hrs.
The CMC is the first to show a real storm. CMC was overdone on the westward movement of Ian and Fiona, that maybe what allows it to escape the ULL on this run.
Ian was 47TJ while Charley was only 7TJ. Also Ian was moving at about 8mph while Charley was moving close to 20. That combined with size made a big difference in storm duration.
https://www.rms.com/blog/2018/10/19/comparing-major-hurricane-michael-to-recent-gulf-hurricanes-using-integrated-kinetic-energy