Dolly Forms

After being a tropical wave we have been watching for a week now since the central Atlantic ocean, we finally have our fourth named tropical storm of the year, and that is Tropical Storm Dolly. Dolly formed late this morning over the northwestern Caribbean Sea about 250 miles east of Chetumal, Mexico. The storm is slowly organizing and has winds of 45 mph. The storm is expected to strengthen before it hits the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico late tonight. After it emerges back into the Gulf of Mexico Monday, it should take its time to reach its next destination, which will be either southern Texas or northern mainland Mexico. People in these areas should monitor the latest on Dolly.

Meanwhile, Bertha has raced off and become a large extratropical cyclone as Tropical Storm Cristobal hugs the coast of North Carolina. As of 2pm the storm was 50 miles southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. a few showers and storms are expected across the Carolina coastline this afternoon with dangerous beach conditions expected.

Triple Tropical Trouble

There are currently 3 areas of interest in the Atlantic Basin: 2 of which are named tropical cyclones and another area that is on the verge of becoming a tropical storm.

First let’s start with the storm closest to home, newly-named Tropical Storm Cristobal. The storm was named from TD 3 that formed yesterday. Cristobal has brought gusty winds, rainy conditions, and high surf for the eastern seaboard from northern Florida to Virginia. As of 11pm Saturday, the center of the storm was located 170 miles southwest of Cape Hatteras, NC and had winds of 45 mph. The storm is not expected to become a hurricane but will parallel the coast at about 7 to 10 mph. For the latest tropical storm warnings for the east coast, click the hurricane link on the blogroll.

The second system I want to discuss we have now been talking about for about a week and it still is nothing. That appears to be changing as the system is beginning to develop a low level center – which all systems need to be classified as a cyclone. The National Hurricane Center said earlier this evening that it is expected to become Tropical Storm Dolly later today and move into the southern Gulf of Mexico by Monday as an intensifying storm. We will see if that happens.

The final area is the pestering Tropical Storm Bertha. Bertha spent most of Saturday as a hurricane, but now that it is way up north in the Atlantic it is beginning to spin down as it races off towards Great Britain. The storm however is expected to remain strong as an extratropical cyclone in the far Atlantic Ocean. It is currently still classified as tropical, so its on its way to becoming one of the longest living storms ever in history. We’ll see where it stacks up.

New Depression…Old Hurricane

The low that was located off the southeastern coast of the US has become the season’s 3rd tropical depression and has prompted the issuance of tropical storm warnings across parts of the Carolina coastline. Even though this depression is not a tropical storm, the issuance of warnings show that the storm could strengthen, and that places under the warning should be prepared for tropical storm conditions, should it strengthen. Currently the depression has winds of 30mph and was located 65 miles southwest of Charleston, South Carolina. The forecast track of the depression hugs it right along the coast until it gets picked up by a front early next week. It probably won’t strengthen too much.

Meanwhile, Bertha has once again attained hurricane status in the north Atlantic, amidst all odds. With winds of 75mph, Bertha is now expected to weaken as it races towards Europe. Yes that’s how far it really will go, even though it won’t be a pure tropical system.

The disturbed weather in the Caribbean remains just an area of disturbed weather but is being monitored for signs of development. No matter what it does, it will bring heavy rains to the Northwestern Caribbean islands. Only time will tell what will come of the system: it hasn’t done much harm so far.

Coming Soon!

To all readers of Youngstown WeatherWatch!!! I will be hosting a talk radio show soon. It will be to discuss any weather news across not only the Mahoning Valley, but any major weather stories across the U.S. including the latest on Hurricane Season 2008. Once I set up a schedule, I will post it here. I hope you will all tune in!

All 3: Hazy, Hot, AND Humid

Each of the 3 H’s of summer are in full force as we conclude your work week. Tonight will be hot and overnight won’t be much relief as temperatures will only dip into the mid 60s. Highs for your Friday will be near 91 degrees with high humidity. Of course, with high humidity we will run the risk of an isolated thunderstorm during the afternoon hours, but most will stay dry. Enjoy the summer weather!

Hot

Today’s highs will be in the mid to upper 80s under partly cloudy skies. However, we will run the risk of an isolated shower because of the higher humidity. The chance of that storm happening is very small and the storms will be so isolated in nature it won’t be a washout at all. Enjoy your afternoon Youngstown!!!

Tropical Trouble…or is this Good News?

While Tropical Storm Bertha (70mph) tracks across the northern Atlantic Ocean, two new areas of concern have developed in the Atlantic Basin, one just east of Barbados and the other just west of Tampa, FL. Starting closer to home, an area of low pressure has formed across the eastern Gulf of Mexico close to Florida’s west coast. While there is little chance of this system to become a named tropical cyclone, this is great news because the area that the storm will be heading is in an extreme drought. This rain is great news.

However, the not so great news is that a tropical depression could be forming in the Lesser Antilles near Barbados as of noon. This is the same low pressure system I have been mentioning the past few days. It wasn’t very organized yesterday, but since then has shown a major increase in organization since then. This has prompted the National Hurricane Center to send out one of their hurricane hunter airplanes into the storm this afternoon to see if a tropical depression actually has formed. The upper level environment ahead of the system is favorable for some modest intensification as it heads through the Caribbean. It is way too early to tell if the storm poses a threat to any other land areas in the future. Stay tuned!

Bertha Remains

Bertha has surpassed the old record of longest lived July tropical cyclone in the Atlantic Basin. As of early afternoon, Tropical Storm Bertha’s winds were near 70mph, just 4 mph shy of hurricane threshold again. The storm is expected to strengthen and to become a hurricane again either later today/this evening or tomorrow. The storm lashed the island of Bermuda yesterday where parts of the island received winds anywhere from 40 to 70mph. Over 2 inches of rain also affected the island. Since then, the storm is now moving towards the north-northeast around 12 mph and will continue to move away from the island. However, large waves and high rip currents are still affecting the eastern seaboard. I have a friend that is currently on vacation in South Carolina who told me the waves were a little large. These will continue to decrease as the storm moves into the open Atlantic Ocean. As of 11am this morning, the center of the tropical storm was located about 260 miles north-northeast of Bermuda. The National Hurricane Center’s official forecast takes the storm in a backwards “S” track horizontally across the northern Atlantic. This will allow Bertha  to remain a tropical cyclone for at least 3 to 4 more days, if not 5. So Bertha will remain with us for awhile still.

As we continue to track Tropical Storm Bertha, the low pressure area I mentioned Sunday night is now about 770 miles east of the Winward Islands. It is still not a tropical depression, as it has lost some organization since I last wrote to you. However, there is still a chance that this system may become a tropical depression this week as it moves toward the Caribbean Sea. I will continue to monitor the latest for you. Keep in mind the peak of the hurricane season doesn’t even begin until August 1st and the climatological peak date is September 10th, so we have a long way to go! Keep it here all season through November 30th to see if your vacation spot will be hit with a storm. Until next time, enjoy the great weather we have here in Ohio!

Warming Up

We will continue our stretch of beautiful weather this afternoon as skies remain under sunny to partly cloudy skies and temperatures top out in the low to mid 80s. All models are agreeing that this weather will continue for the next several days. The only difference would be the temperatures increasing as the week progresses. By Thursday we will be close to the 90 degree mark. As I mentioned earlier in the week, get in that pool!

My Services Won’t Be Needed

This week has a very easy weather pattern. Sunny to partly cloudy skies should prevail for the majority if not all of the week ahead. Monday will be the nicest as temperatures will be a comfortable 78 degrees with low humidity. By the end of the week, however, temperatures will be near 90 with much higher humidity. Summer is here – take time to hit the pool this week. The next chance of rain doesn’t come until next weekend.