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.


Phew man, the past week has been wild for the tropics across both the Atlantic and Pacific. As of today, we have 5 tropical systems, whether named or unnamed, across the Atlantic and Pacific, and that isn’t counting the western Pacific.

The storms occurring in the Atlantic now. h/t NHC
The storms occurring in the Atlantic now. h/t NHC
The storms occurring in the Pacific now. Not shown is Hurricane Madeline, taking aim at Hawaii. h/t NHC
The storms occurring in the Pacific now. Not shown is Hurricane Madeline, taking aim at Hawaii. h/t NHC

The tropics got really active last week, and it all started with Gaston. Gaston has been churning out in the Atlantic for several days. He was the first Major Hurricane of the season, as he intensified to that point after several days of struggle. Gaston actually looked pretty terrible at one point last week, as shear and dry air took their tolls on him. However, he rebounded well. He is currently a 110 mph Hurricane, and is an amazing looking storm.

Gaston this afternoon. h/t NHC
Gaston this afternoon. h/t NHC

Gaston isn’t a significant threat to land, as he moves off to the northeast over the northeastern Atlantic.

The forecast track for Hurricane Gaston. h/t NHC
The forecast track for Hurricane Gaston. h/t NHC

Closer to home, we have had a couple of systems form over the past few days. Tropical Depressions 8 and 9 formed the same day, but in completely different regions of the Atlantic. TD 8 formed over the western Atlantic, offshore of the North Carolina coast, where it now sits. It is much sloppier looking than TD 9, and has worsened in appearance since its birth as a TD on Sunday.

TD 8 this afternoon. h/t NHC
TD 8 this afternoon. h/t NHC

It is expected to move northeastward across the western Atlantic, with no real threat to land.

The forecast track for TD 8. h/t NHC
The forecast track for TD 8. h/t NHC

Now, we come to TD 9. It was formerly, and infamously, known as “99L”. As some background on this, the National Hurricane Center refers to systems that they are interested in as “Invests”. They then track them on Satellite, and gather data on them. Well, 99L became Twitter famous. 

There were several model runs from the European Model in which it developed a monster hurricane, and aimed it at the United States. Obviously, that has not happened. However, and irrationally so, Twitter ran with that idea. News organizations were pumping out stupid content to get clicks, and people were fishing for followers and retweets across the board. This led to 99L becoming a hugely popular tropical wave that hadn’t formed into anything.

…Until Sunday afternoon. Yes, 99L is now TD 9. TD 9 has been slow to organize, but looks to be finally getting to that point this afternoon. Some forecast models are calling for it to strenghen quite a bit between now and landfall along the Gulf Coast, so the National Hurricane Center has issued a Hurricane watch along the coast. That doesn’t mean that TD 9 will become a hurricane, but the potential is there.

The visible satellite imagery for TD 9 today as it has churned across the southern Gulf of Mexico. h/t NHC
The visible satellite imagery for TD 9 today as it has churned across the southern Gulf of Mexico. h/t NHC
The forecast track for TD 9. h/t NHC
The forecast track for TD 9. h/t NHC

We will keep you up to date with the latest on TD 9, and the impacts it may have along the Gulf Coast.