By WeatherFlow meteorologist Shea Gibson Hurricane #Matthew is undergoing rapid intensification right now as it moves across the Caribbean Sea just north of Venezuela/northern tip of Colombia. Winds went from 75mph last night (9/29/16) at 8:00PM to 100mph by 2AM (9/30/16)….and is now a Category 3 Major Hurricane as of the 11AM udpate for today…
By WeatherFlow meteorologist Shea Gibson 9/20/2016 The Polar jet is starting to show a couple of strong dips from the north as we head into fall. Two Rossby waves (jet stream dips) are shown forming here that creates what is called an “Omega Block” Ω – this shows two upper Lows pinched off in the…
by WeatherFlow meteorologist Shea Gibson As we head into the last half of August, we typically begin to see the Atlantic basin become more active along the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) and other areas such as the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Right now there are 3 areas being monitored as activity has ramped up…
By WeatherFlow Meteorologist Shea Gibson Ever been in a thunderstorm and a sudden burst of strong winds and rain comes down at the same time? This is called a “wet microburst”, which packs quite a punch when it comes to the strong winds associated with them. They can be particularly dangerous for airplanes and can…
By WeatherFlow meteorologist Shea Gibson Written on 7/18/2016: Tropics Update: We started the late spring somewhat active along the SE United States and western Caribbean for the Atlantic Hurricane Season 2016. Don’t forget – we had an early storm in the eastern north Atlantic in January, which was Hurricane Alex (and still our strongest so…
by WeatherFlow Meteorologist Shea Gibson As many now, we had quite a strong El Niño develop in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean as Sea Surface temperatures soared to 3.1°C above normal (tying the previous record from 1997). Normal is considered as 28°C or ~82.4°F. The focus now is shifting towards a La Nina this year, in…
By WeatherFlow meteorologist Shea Gibson. What is El Niño and how will it affect our East Coast wind pattern? El Niño is basically the warming of the equatorial Pacific. Specifically for the effects it causes us in the United States, it’s the warming of water surface temps above normal along the eastern Equatorial Pacific. The higher sea surface…
Unusual hurricane pattens in Hawaiian and Cabo Verde Islands. Take a look at the animation below of the 4 hurricanes currently transiting Hawaiian waters south of the North Pacific High. Never in recorded history has there been 4 hurricanes at the same time in these waters. Meteorologically speaking having 4 hurricanes at the same time…
by WeatherFlow meteorologist Shea Gibson. As a quick recap, The Intertropical Convergence Zone where tropical storms form, or the “ITCZ”, is heavily impacted by the Saharan Air Layer (or “SAL”), which is a dust layer off the western African coast along the lower and mid levels of the atmosphere. This dry, dusty more stable air rides just over the…
by WeatherFlow meteorologist Shea Gibson For SAL-ty Atlantic Part I of this series, please see: http://blog.weatherflow.com/sal-ty-atlantic-the-saharan-air-layer/ For SAL-ty Atlantic Part III of this series, please see: http://blog.weatherflow.com/sal-ty-atlantic-part-iii/ So far, the Atlantic Season has seen two named storms: CAT 2 Hurricane Arthur – which formed off the SE coast and made landfall over coastal NC… and Hurricane Bertha,…