wunderground.com predicts this area of tropical weather may become a tropical storm Alex this week- with potential for hurricane status when it gets to the north caribean- and its path is heading straight for Cancun. Now its only an area of interest so don't panic! However its worth keeping your eye on it. Regards Tracey
So far, I don't see any rotation in this one but, as you suggest, we'll have to keep an eye on it, and others, for the rest of the season (until early Dec). As Ida showed, they can sometimes develop in just a few days, it seems. For those who are interested, it lies just above Venezuela, at the moment. http://home.comcast.net/~herbwx/hurrican.html
Normally I welcome the occasional hurricane scare..... so I can buy tuna I'll never eat (I think I've still got some cans from Wilma that haven't expired yet) but given the oil floating in the gulf this year I wouldn't mind another "quiet" season..... and yes I know the "experts" predicted an "active" one but seems like they ALWAYS predict that... so I'm not putting much credit into their prediction.... I wonder if this will be the year that the US will finally ok the airborne dispersant stuff that's supposed to breakup hurricanes... given the extenuating circumstances...
NOAA says it's showing some signs of organization, and the environmental conditions "appear conducive" to development. However, they give it 30 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone within the next 48 hours.
I'm going with the turtles. We have a record number of nests right now so I'm going with them. I say we don't get hit. Well, not down here 85 km south of Cancun. But I'd say Cancun is covered also.
Turtles?? Kathy, I'm hoping your turtles have got it right, this time! But, sadly, our good luck is then somebody else's bad luck. This storm system seems to me to be tracking somewhat to the north and may affect Cuba, for example, more than it does us, and it may not become more than lots of rain for them. (I still don't see any indicate of rotation in the system.) I wonder what the Cuban turtles are saying?
Tropical Storms For anybody curious about what we're watching (besides turtles!), click on this- Saint Louis, MO Weather / Stormpulse / Hurricanes, severe weather, tracking, mapping Then, zoom out, and right far enough to be able to see the Yucatan Peninsula and west Africa, and turn on "clouds": this will enable you to see the storm systems- which form in equatorial Africa- then track across the Atlantic towards us, sometimes gathering strength as they go. The really big action, so far this year, has been in the Eastern Pacific, off the coast of Central America, where there have been four "named" storms, so far, this year. The current one is called, "Darby". Most of these originate, it seems, with storm systems passing over the northern portions of S America, and don't typically affect us, to any degree. Those we watch tend to form up in the Atlantic, and Caribbean: Ida, which we watched closely, last year, formed relatively nearby, just off the eastern coast of Honduras/Nicaragua, meaning there was only about three days or so to make preparations for it. Google Maps As some of you will recall, this storm passed through the straits between the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba, affecting us here to only a very limited degree.
The national hurricane website has given this area a 60% chance of becoming a tropical storm before hitting the yucatan peninsula in approx 48 hours. Keep an eye out. Tracey
