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Windspeed

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  1. Windspeed
    There may be enough time for a TS to become fairly organized prior to landfall Thur/Fri along the NW to central gulf coast. Though in a sheared environment and asymmetric in structure, the low may support severe supercells that ride over the Southeast and Tennessee Valley into the weekend.
  2. Windspeed
    May storms are still infrequent. We have seen named subtropical and purely tropical systems in December as well. But the average still favors June through November. We would really need to see the standard deviation spread on the calendar beyond a single system, even if we have had a named storm in May the last few years. Water temps are still not quite there until around late May for any increase in climatological favorability.
  3. Windspeed
    Though not our area, I feel it's still worth a brief mention here in case anyone focuses mostly just on our region. There is a high risk for a significant tornado outbreak in the southern Great Plains today. First SPC High Risk since 2017. A lot of troubling parameters in play for this to verify. If anyone has relatives out there, never hurts to give attention. There will be a main thread in the Central/Western Subforum to follow as the event unfolds.
  4. Windspeed
    Most of the communities along the track have densely populated townships even if they are small in size, such as Puri, India, which has around 200k residents in its last census. Puri may also find itself in the right-front quadrant of the eyewall. Trying to estimate track, Chatrapur, a smaller township of about 20k may get the direct hit. Regardless, as the cyclone moves inland, there are even higher population densities across the state of Odisha, and of course, per usual, the greatest threat is still going to be flash flooding of low lying communities.
  5. Windspeed
    Fani's Adj T numbers had already hit 140 kts. The earlier pinhole eye had also cleared and warmed. Though unofficial, Fani could very well have already attained Cat 5 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson scale. I don't know if the cyclone will maintain upper Cat 4 to Cat 5 intensity all the way through landfall however, as Fani's forecast track moves its core slightly adjacent and in close proximity to the shape of the Indian coastline for a while prior to actual landfall. Disruption of the core and eyewall interaction with land should weaken it before official landfall occurs. Regardless, this is a very powerful tropical cyclone, and with intense winds impacting a lot of shoreline, this cyclone has the potental to be a devestating event to multiple communities with a high population density. Edit: Fani, not "Lani".
  6. Windspeed
    Right. But from a climatological and historical perspective, the SSTs of the northern gulf shelf by Sept-Oct have generally cooled below what is required to support a rapidly deepening Cat 5. Sure, the central, southern GOM and Bay of Campeche would continue supporting Cat 5 intensity through October, but those storms tend to weaken drastically if steered into the N. GOM. Major hurricane Opal being a prime example. October of 2018 hopefully remains anomalous in its mutliple contributing factors that lead to Michael, as generally multiple cold fronts have swept through the northern gulf by mid-to-late September and subsequent dry continental air plus radiational cooling has brought down mean heat content by 3-4°C. Again, it's one thing to consider a rare Category 5 threat in July, August, perhaps still even September, but October? Michael is hopefully the rarest of generational occurrences.
  7. Windspeed
    Reading back through this thread, I was dead wrong in one point while trying to discredit preconceptons or misconceptions about landfalling Cat 5s along the N. GOM coast, including rapid intensification over its shallow shelf. I never once imagined that scenario being possible in the month of October. Then having that play out approximately one year later? Crazy!
  8. Windspeed
    Dr. Phil Klotzbach @ CSU has introduced the following website to house and track seasonal forecasts from private and public entities: http://seasonalhurricanepredictions.bsc.es/
  9. Windspeed
    Cyclone Idai: Death toll rises to 750 as Mozambique city of Beira begins long road to recovery.
  10. Windspeed
    Veronica's core is slowing down and will eventually begin a SW to WSW motion in close proximity to the Australian coast before or just after landfall. Though cloudtops have cooled and ADT increased to 115 kts over night, the eye has become rather ragged in the last several hours. With a slow motion and bend in track in close proximity to coast, should a landfall occur, it may take a while. This region of Australian coast is sparsely populated. Roebourne is the only major township beyond several coastal getaways and they're roughly a few thousand people combined. This area no stranger to cyclones however. They should be prepared.
  11. Windspeed
    Trevor's landfall is imminent. JTWC has the intensity around 105 kts. ADT still supports that. Looks like a solid Cat 3 landfall.
  12. Windspeed
    Despite low shear, Veronica can't seem to intensify. JTWC actually downgraded. Unsure of dry air intrusion or core alignment. Microwave shows multiple concentric bands. Probably all downhill from here as far as intensity. Likewise, Trevor seems to be struggling with 700-600mb southwesterly shear, tilting the MLC northeast of the LLC. Despite -85°C intense convective cloudstops, it's running out of time. Doesn't look like either cyclone will come anywhere close to the 920s millibars in pressure despite days of unanimous modeling support to the contrary. Looks like JTWC's earlier intensity forecasts are also going to bust hard on both systems. But again, Cat 5s are extremely difficult to forecast even with days of good modeling consensus.
  13. Windspeed
    Severe cyclone Veronica looks to have completed an ERC and is beginning to clear out the cloud canopy over its eye. A run at Cat 5, if it's going to happen, should be commencing in short order. Atmospheric conditions including strong divergence aloft and 30°C SSTs are supportive for such run before increasing shear becomes an issue near landfall. Hopefully that shear will weaken Veronica prior to landfall, though we're more hopeful it will come ashore away from any populated communities.
  14. Windspeed
    Per ADT, Veronica is the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane now. JTWC forecast 140 kts. Aus Met is also forecasting a 5 on their scale. Should make landfall on late Saturday or Sunday.
  15. Windspeed
    Veronica has undergone RI over night. Fairly impressive 24 hour intensification.
  16. Windspeed
    Australia now has two intensifying cyclones. Positioned off the NW coast is Veronica, which is quickly consolidating a core and looks to become an intense cyclone in the near term. Likewise, Trevor, which is emerging over the Gulf of Carpentaria is quickly reorganizing after crossing the Cape York Peninsula. Both cyclones are unanimously modeled to become severe cyclones and there is even the possibility of an extremely rare occurrence of two Category 5s raging simultaneously near to the Australian coastline at once.
  17. Windspeed
    RE: Idai https://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/press-release/mozambique-cyclone-90-per-cent-beira-surrounds-damaged-destroyed/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47609676]https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47609676 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-18/mozambique-flood-death-toll-may-be-more-than-1-000-zitamar-says
  18. Windspeed
    Pretty unanimous global modeling on a sub 930 mb tropical cyclone traversing the Gulf of Carpentaria late week. Looks like double landfalls for Cyclone Trevor in Australia. The initial being eastern Cape York Peninsula coast late on Tuesday. Then reintensification transitioning into rapid intensification as the severe cyclone turns poleward in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
  19. Windspeed
    This may be a nonstory to you, but the situation is still unfolding. No, it's not like they're just sitting in their homes waiting to drown. But people may be displaced and surged/flooded urban areas, much more rural, are difficult to reach with roads and bridges impassable. The Yatumbe River is currently expanding out across its flood plain with heavy rains continuing to fall over its interior tributaries. What is modeled, an additional 500mm/20 inches on top of what has already fallen, possible through Wednesday. News doesn't exactly flow out to Western media from this part of the world at a rapid pace like it does elsewhere. It's going to take days to weeks for resources to get out all that is happening there to verify what has occurred from a meteorological perspective; and again, a large fraction of those 500k people are currently displaced within ongoing inclement weather, which isn't exactly helping the spread of personal testimony and experiences without anyone able to reach them on the ground and report it. I'm not going to stop posting or apologize for posting about this event regardless if it seems like I am being too dramatic.
  20. Windspeed
    Their comms infrastructure isn't like that found in the US. And there have been limited resources on the ground relaying out the imagery we are just now seeing above. It was a major hit on a populated area with extreme rainfall totals still accumulating. What's not to be dramatic about? There is very real possibility of significant loss of life and a humanitarian crisis unfolding in the coming weeks/months.
  21. Windspeed
    Looking at the structural failures in that imagery above, I can only say I hope the residents there evacuated. That looks pretty grim.
  22. Windspeed
    Images via International Federation of Red Cross:
  23. Windspeed
    Idai's remnant low continues to sit and spin over Mozambique and Zimbabwe, pulling a strong moisture feed off the Mozambique Channel and Indian Ocean; daytime heating adding to atmospheric instabilty supporting intense convective plumes over the same locations, essentially firehose band precipation moving over the interior. Not to sound dreary, but I would be surprised if conditions in both countries do not escalate into an humanitarian crisis at this point. A trailing surface trough and unstable boundary appears to hold between the highlands and coastal region through Wednesday until Idai's remnant low completely dissipates/precipitates out. On top of what has already fallen, here is the modeled ECMWF totals, the bulk which falls over the next 72 hours:
  24. Windspeed
    The INGC, Mozambique's governmental natural hazards and disaster mitigation agency is on the ground evaluating damage. There has been very little word out of there.
  25. Windspeed
    ADT for Idai rebounded somewhat prior to landfall. JTWC dropped to 95 kts on the last advisory. However, the core may have regained some of that intensity as cloudtops cooled and the eye appeared less ragged. Though 95 or 105 kts isn't a huge difference, increasing convection in the eyewall versus eroding convection may have helped transport destructive gusts to surface.
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