Here’s quite a sight as we join the new work week Monday morning: Eight tropical systems within sight of the GOES-EAST weather satellite here in the Western Hemisphere! That’s something you don’t see everyday!
From left to right:
- Tropical Storm Karina (in the eastern Pacific)
- Tropical wave over the Gulf of Mexico off Texas
- Tropical Storm Sally bearing down on the Gulf Coast
- Hurricane Paulette which cross Bermuda earlier Mon morning producing a peak gust of 89 mph there
- Tropical Depression Rene
- Tropical Storm Teddy far out in the Atlantic with 40 mph sustained winds
- Tropical Depression 21 expected to become a Tropical Storm later today
- Tropical wave coming off Africa and given a 40% chance of tropical development in the coming 5 days
Click here to see an animation of the entire region:
Interesting notes on Tropical Storm Sally
If you watch satellite imagery of Tropical Storm Sally, you see tiny ripples rippling outward from near the storm’s center through the storm’s clouds canopy. These ripples move out in all directions not unlike what happens in a lake or pond when you throw a pebble or rock into the water.
These ripples are referred to as “gravity waves” and are not uncommon in tropical storms and hurricanes. They’re the sign air is rising vigorously within the storm. This rising air produces upward bursts in the cloud tops and these overshooting tops go on to generate waves that propagate away from their area of origin as a series of wave.
Click on the arrow to see the animation of Sally’s clouds this morning out over the Gulf of Mexico and you’ll see these “gravity waves”.
Also look at the plot of boats and ships on the Gulf of Mexico and notice how this marine traffic thins out in the vicinity of the storm. That’s a prudent development.
