An Early Start to the Season?
May 7, 2007 - 8:00 PM UTC
8PM EDT UPDATE: I was just looking at some observations from a buoy that is located about 180 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Winds at this buoy have been above tropical storm strength (>39 mph) throughout the day.
The interesting thing to me though are the wave heights. Operationally, NHC warns of a 12-ft wave height radius for named systems, that is how far from the center of the storm does one find 12-ft high waves. Have a look below at the wave heights generated by this system. Pretty impressive.
Alas, looking at the latest model runs, this is most likely the height of the storm's intensity, so if NHC has not upgraded the system yet, it most likely will not. Still, this storm will be a significant rain/wind/surge event for the Southeast Coast, with hurricane force wind warnings posted off the South Carolina coast.
WaveHt_8May07_0z.bmp
Wave height at buoy 41001 180 miles to the east of Cape Hatteras, NC.
A strong low pressure system has formed off the East Coast of the United States. This system has developed central thunderstorm activity while remaining over the warmish waters of the Gulf Stream. Sea surface temperatures underneath the area of activity are below the usual threshold of 26C, however, upper level temperatures are cold enough that the storm could develop some tropical characteristics.
The forecast track moves it southwestward over the next few days. I'm showing the UKMET model here because it has been the most consistent and best forecast for this storm. To my eye, this looks like classical subtropical development.
Shear values above the area of interest are quite low for this time of year (Figure 3), with values as low as 10 knots. If the convection continues to build, and this is a big if, it is possible that we will have our first named storm of the 2007 season in the second week of May.
I'm not sure whether NHC would name the storm as a subtropical storm (because the storm is still cold core at the upper levels) or as a tropical storm, but if it does get named, it will be christened Andrea.
An Early Start to the Season?
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