Tropics Still Quiet! Cold Air Sweeping East…
Cool Air For Sunday, Image: Unisys Weather
Does this image look familiar? Okay, that might be a trick question. It’s probably been a long week for you too. But, I posted almost the exact same image from Unisys Weather on Monday, talking about the cool down on both coasts. It looks like the weather pattern is going to repeat itself for the beginning of next week, with cool Canadian air seeping into the forecast for the West Coast, Midwest and East Coast. Cooler, drier temperatures will make it as far south as Albuquerque, New Mexico and Jackson, Mississippi.
It may be jacket weather tonight for Friday Night Football.
Satellite Image 90L, Image: NOAA
The National Hurricane Center is watching a tropical wave in the Atlantic. The satellite imagery shows a less than impressive area of showers and thunderstorms, and NHC forecasters give it a less than 30% chance for development.
It’s going to be a quiet weekend in the tropics. Honestly, it’s October 2nd. I’ll keep watching the tropics, but it’s looking like a pretty uneventful year. Dry air and wind shear did a number on most developing storms.
I hope you had a chance to read my blog about the SAL and hurricanes. I’ll continue to update the article when I find out more information. Research regarding the Saharan Air Layer and its effect on hurricanes is ongoing. This year, however, the SAL was not widespread. Scientists are favoring the idea that El Nino and the wind shear that is associated with it, dry air, and the upper level wind pattern were the main reasons for the somewhat uneventful year in the Atlantic Ocean. I’ll talk more about that at the end of the season when we have some expert opinions on this topic.
Check out the new category on my page: Hurricane Special. It has an article about Dr. William Gray, the hurricane forecaster, and the Saharan Air Layer.
Also, Dr. Jeff Masters has the latest on the typhoon (hurricanes in the western Pacific) on his blog. The storms are lining up in the western Pacific Ocean. His blog is in the links to your left.
-Dawn Brown
Both Coasts Cool Down!
Both Coasts Cool Down (courtesy Unisys Weather)
A cold and windy storm is headed into the Great Lakes Region. Frost Advisories are posted for five states, including Michigan, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and Nebraska. Click on the state name for your local TV forecast. Record heat across the Southwest will be replaced by temperatures 20-30 degrees cooler by Tuesday. Las Vegas will go from a high near 100 degrees today to a high of 75 by Wednesday! The upper air image from Unisys Weather above depicts the forecast for Tuesday night.
Still hot across portions of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. The tropics are quiet. I’m reading up on the latest issue of BAMS, the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. It has an artical regarding the Saharan Air Layer, SAL for short, and the development of tropical cyclones or hurricanes. For the last several years, scientists have been studying whether the SAL, and the dust that comes with it, keeps tropical disturbances from growing or intensifying into hurricanes. It’s an interesting read, I’ll let you know what I find out tomorrow, (I’m still deep into it.)
Have a great Monday.
-Dawn Brown