VISIT: Meteorological Interpretation Blog

By Dan Bikos and Sheldon Kusselson Hurricane Fiona underwent a transition from a tropical cyclone to an extra-tropical cyclone on 23-24 September 2022.  The resulting extra-tropical cyclone was very intense and led to significant storm surge, wind damage and heavy rain in southeast Canada centered on Nova Scotia. The Advected Layer Precipitable Water loop does an Continue Reading

By Sheldon Kusselson

By Sheldon Kusselson Loop of ALPW 700-500 mb layer over a long time period

By Sheldon Kusselson and Dan Bikos Subtropical storm Melissa exists off the Eastern coastline of the U.S. on 10-11 October 2019, as GOES-16 visible imagery on 11 October shows: http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/templates/loop_directory.asp?data_folder=training/visit/loops/11Oct19/vis&loop_speed_ms=60 note the lack of deep convection over the center of the circulation, however convection does exist north and northeast of the center at this time. Continue Reading

Hurricane Willa is forecasted to make landfall, along the coast of Mexico, within the next few hours. Willa, once deemed a Category 5 hurricane, has been downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane within the last 24 hours, with max sustained winds at 125 mph, moving north-northeast at 6 mph according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) Continue Reading

Hurricane Michael has made landfall today, along the Florida Panhandle, between Tyndall Air Force Base, FL and Mexico Beach, Florida. Radar and satellite products observed Michael, as it approached the Florida Panhandle (seen below). Over the last 12 hours, Michael increased in maximum wind speed to 155-mph and had a pressure level of 919-mb. Radar Continue Reading

The hurricane season in the Atlantic has been quite inactive throughout the majority of the summer, until this past week. Currently there are three active hurricanes located in the eastern, central and western Atlantic Ocean, named Hurricane Helene, Isaac, and Florence, respectively; all with varying magnitude, intensity, and storm tracks. However, with all the present Continue Reading

Hurricane Lane is making headlines this week, as the storm approaches the Hawaiian islands. As of the latest National Hurricane Center (NHC) update (8 am HST, 23 August 2018), Lane is moving quite slow, with a northwest movement at ~ 7 miles per hour. Within the last day or two, Lane has weakened, but is Continue Reading

Hurricane Hector has been a ‘Major Hurricane’ in the Central Pacific for the past week. At one point, the hurricane was nearly categorized as a Category 5 hurricane, however weakened, and is currently a Category 3 hurricane (i.e. ~120 mph winds as of 8AM Hawaiian Standard Time (HST), 9 August 2018). The storm is moving Continue Reading

By late weekend, Typhoon Jongdari is forecasted to make landfall along Japan’s southern islands. Typhoon Jongdari is expected to strengthen, with an initial northeast storm motion, then elicit a circuitous path, moving westward, within the next 24-hours. The typhoon is anticipated to be at Category 1 hurricane strength (74-95 miles per hour), just before landfall. Continue Reading