A review of sea water temperatures along the central Gulf coast yesterday revealed 92 degrees at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (on the Alabama coastline in far south Mobile county), and 91 degrees at Pensacola. That is a tremendous amount of latent energy stored in the ocean, which is just what tropical systems love to feed on. You have to wonder if that is a troubling sign for August and September. We sure hope not, but you can’t ignore those numbers.
Some of the computer models are actually hinting at low surface pressure just off the coast early next week, and there certainly is some possibility a system could form just south of the central Gulf coast. The system that has most of our attention is a strong wave that is about 350 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands. The system should become tropical storm Harvey during the next 36 hours, and the computer models have the system moving toward the Bahamas during the next few days. A ridge should begin to build north of the system early next week, possibly turning it westward, toward the eastern coast of Florida by mid-week. Our friends all the way from Jacksonville to Miami will have to watch for this one, and of course, if the westward motion does develop and become persistent the thing might even wind up in the Gulf of Mexico.
On top of all of that, there are two other waves in the eastern Atlantic that bear watching. Nothing organized now, but the train is on the tracks, and all of these waves most likely mean an active core of the tropical season, which is in August and September. What happens if we run out of names? The National Hurricane Center will go to using the Greek alphabet. Hurricane Alpha? You have to wonder. This could very well be a tropical season to remember.
Some of the computer models are actually hinting at low surface pressure just off the coast early next week, and there certainly is some possibility a system could form just south of the central Gulf coast. The system that has most of our attention is a strong wave that is about 350 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands. The system should become tropical storm Harvey during the next 36 hours, and the computer models have the system moving toward the Bahamas during the next few days. A ridge should begin to build north of the system early next week, possibly turning it westward, toward the eastern coast of Florida by mid-week. Our friends all the way from Jacksonville to Miami will have to watch for this one, and of course, if the westward motion does develop and become persistent the thing might even wind up in the Gulf of Mexico.
On top of all of that, there are two other waves in the eastern Atlantic that bear watching. Nothing organized now, but the train is on the tracks, and all of these waves most likely mean an active core of the tropical season, which is in August and September. What happens if we run out of names? The National Hurricane Center will go to using the Greek alphabet. Hurricane Alpha? You have to wonder. This could very well be a tropical season to remember.