The Week in Tropical Weather

I have come to the conclusion that I post way too much about the tropics. I am no expert in tropical meteorology, I wouldn’t even call myself an amateur. Tropical Meteorology is a much different animal than mid-latitude meteorology, and as such, it is difficult for me to apply my knowledge of mid-latitude meteorology to tropical meteorology. However, in light of that, I will be establishing a weekly post about the Tropics. Whether is be the eastern Pacific or the Atlantic or the western Pacific, the Tropics are fairly active around this time of the year. So, without further ado, I give you the first installment of: The Week in Tropical Weather.

The past week has actually been fairly interesting on the Tropical Atlantic side of the spectrum. As you have seen with the lack of posts about the tropics, nothing (literally nothing) has been going on recently. The system that dumped rainfall on Louisiana at the beginningish of the month had tropical origins, but it wasn’t truly a tropical system as defined by the National Hurricane Center.

A sample of the radar data from the afternoon of August 11th through the afternoon of August 12th. h/t SPC

However, by the end of last week, things started to heat up. First there was Tropical Storm Fiona. Ahh, Fiona. She formed in a relatively favorable environment across the eastern Atlantic, and drifted west-northwestward. A little bit after her formation, she met some dry, Saharan air and she began to peak and then weaken.

Fiona is but a mere ghost of her former self. h/t NHC

Today, she met her demise today with an awesome message from the NHC.

"Fiona is finished. This is the last advisory" h/t NHC — “Fiona is finished. This is the last advisory” h/t NHC

Now, after Fiona developed, we had another couple tropical waves roll into the Atlantic. One is currently propagating through the central Atlantic, and the other has already formed into strong Tropical Storm Gaston.

The current look at the Tropical Atlantic. h/t NHC

The NHC is investigating the lead wave today, as it could have an impact on the US at some point in the near future. It has also gained considerable organization over the past couple of days, leading to the belief that it may be forming into a tropical system.

The tropical wave in the central Atlantic. h/t NHC

Gaston is intensifying at a pretty quick rate, as it was just classified as a Tropical Depression last evening. He is now a 65 mph Tropical Storm and is forecast to become a Hurricane tonight.

A loop of Gaston's progression. h/t NHC — A loop of Gaston’s progression. h/t NHC

The forecast track for Tropical Storm Gaston. h/t NHC

It will be interesting to see how these systems develop and evolve over the Atlantic!