Jacksonville, Fl. — The “Buresh Bottom Line”: Always be prepared!.....First Alert Hurricane Survival Guide... City of Jacksonville Preparedness Guide... Georgia Hurricane Guide.
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REMEMBER WHEN A TROPICAL STORM OR HURRICANE IS APPROACHING: Taping windows is *NOT* helpful & will not keep glass from breaking.
Realize the forecast cone (”cone of uncertainty”) is the average forecast error over a given time - out to 5 days - & *does not* indicate the width of the storm &/or damage that might occur.
*** No impacts from tropical systems for Jacksonville/NE Fl./SE Ga. through the holiday weekend into next week...
* The active tropical wave - ‘94-L’ (Potential Tropical Cyclone #2) which came off the coast of Africa a week ago Wed. - continues swiftly westbound. The disturbance is finally starting to get its act together & should be tropical storm “Bonnie” before reaching Central America by Fri. night. The recent persistent upper level high will remain intact across the Atlantic & U.S. (Lower 48) which means a rather straight forward forecast track (due west) across Central America then into the East Pacific.
The fast movement & close proximity to South America has been a speed bump of sorts, but the wave is now in the more favorable “zone” of the Western Caribbean. The system will still be moving rather quickly to the west & its time over warm water & in that favorable zone will be rather limited. In any case, it looks like a tropical storm will impact Central America - centered on Nicaragua & Northern Costa Rica through early Saturday. Once to the Pacific, the system is likely to re-organize & strengthen again while turning more northwest to the south of the Mexican coast.
On this forecast track there will be no impacts on NE Fl./SE Ga. ... or any of Florida... as well as not any of the Gulf Coast. It is worth noting early season African waves like this one are often a harbinger of an overall active Atlantic hurricane season.
A second wave is over the Central Atlantic & is steadily moving W/NW. There was a burst of convection to the east of the wave axis early Friday but shear is strong over the Caribbean & should keep this wave from having much of a chance to develop.
* The weak low pressure over the extreme northwest Gulf of Mexico has moved inland over S/SE Texas so no further development can be expected.
Wind shear:
The location of development of tropical systems in June since 1851 generally favors the NW Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico & far Western Atlantic:
Saharan dust is spread west each year from Africa by the prevailing winds (from east to west over the Atlantic). Dry air - yellow/orange/red/pink. Widespread dust is indicative of dry air that can impede the development of tropical cyclones. However, sometimes “wanna’ be” waves will just wait until they get to the other side of - or away from - the plume then try to develop if other conditions are favorable. In my personal opinion, way too much is made about the presence of Saharan dust & how it relates to tropical cyclones. In any case, we’ve already has a couple of dust plumes spread west to the Caribbean & Gulf with the peak of Saharan dust typically in June & July.
2022 names..... “Alex” was the first name on the Atlantic list (names are picked at random by the World Meteorological Organization... repeat every 6 years... “Bonnie” is next. Historic storms are retired [Florence & Michael in ’18... Dorian in ’19 & Laura, Eta & Iota in ‘20 & Ida in ‘21]). The WMO decided - beginning last year - that the Greek alphabet will be no longer used & instead there will be a supplemental list of names if the first list is exhausted (has only happened three times - 2005, 2020 & 2021). The naming of tropical cyclones began on a consistent basis in 1953. More on the history of naming tropical cyclones * here *.
East Atlantic:
Mid & upper level wind shear (enemy of tropical cyclones) analysis (CIMMS). The red lines indicate strong shear:
Water vapor imagery (dark blue indicates dry air):
Deep oceanic heat content over the Gulf, Caribbean & deep tropical Atlantic:
Sea surface temp. anomalies:
SE U.S. surface map:
Surface analysis centered on the tropical Atlantic:
Surface analysis of the Gulf:
Caribbean:
GFS wave forecast at 48 & 72 hours (2 & 3 days):
Atlantic Basin wave period forecast for 24, 48 & 72 hours respectively:
The East Pacific:
West Pacific IR satellite:
Global tropical activity:
“Chaba” is forecast to become a typhoon while moving toward China staying west of Hong Kong:
Tropical storm “Aere” will move over the far W. Pacific nearing Western Japan by Tue./Wed.:
Cox Media Group
