TROPICAL STORM EARL HEADS FOR NOVA SCOTIA… SUNSHINE RETURNS TO HAMPTON ROADS… THE LABOR DAY WEEKEND LOOKS FANTASTIC… COULD GASTON COME BACK TO LIFE?
Tropical Storm Earl is heading towards Nova Scotia. Hampton Roads was left unscathed and basically that was the forecast. Even in the Outer Banks, the damage was minimal. The storm stayed just far enough offshore to spare us the major flooding problems, widespread power outages, wind damage, etc. I picked up 1.30 inches of rain from Earl. In the storm’s wake, we will see beautiful weather for the holiday weekend. Temperatures will be easy to take and humidity levels will be lower than they’ve been of late. Speaking of temperatures, I did say in my post on Friday that I did not think that we would see high temperatures in the 90′s and sure enough, the temperatures never even got close. The high temperature at ORF on Friday was 82. I never understood how the forecasters thought that we would see such hot weather when a hurricane was moving up along our coastline. Between the clouds, rain, and northerly wind flow, 90′s were out of reach. As far as the tropics are concerned, Gaston may be making a comeback. The area of convection seems to be getting more organized so we’ll have to keep an eye on it as it tracks west. I’ll have an update on Sunday.
Rick Schwartz Said,
September 4, 2010 @ 2:24 pm
While researching my book, Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States, I discovered that hurricanes tracking within a few hundred miles of each other within several weeks often follow roughly parallel tracks.
The peak of hurricane season has about six weeks to go. Odds are that at least one tropical cyclone with pass west of Earl, which well may mean trouble for sections of Virginia.
Some years the Hampton Roads region experienced at least two hurricanes generally on parallel tracks: 1944, 1945, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1961, 1996, 1999.
dave Said,
September 5, 2010 @ 8:45 am
Rick,
That is very interesting. I am a bit nervous about the remnants of Gaston coming back to life in the next few days. You have to keep in mind that the weaker Gaston stays, the further south the track will be. This is because as a storm builds in strength, the storm extends higher into the atmosphere. The higher the storm is the more it is affected by upper-level winds that usually steer the storm further north. Thanks for writing.