Tropical Storm Agatha, Pacaya volcano kill 15 in Guatemala; oil spill update
Tropical Storm Agatha, the first Eastern Pacific named storm of 2010, was short lived but deadly. Agatha was a tropical storm for just 12 hours, making landfall Saturday on the Pacific coast of Guatemala as a 45 mph tropical storm. However, the storm brought huge amounts of moisture inland that continue to be wrung out as heavy rains by the high mountains of Guatemala and the surrounding nations of Central America. So far, flooding and landslides have killed twelve people in Guatemala, and one person in neighboring El Salvador. According to the excellent Guatemala weather site, climaya.com, rainfall amounts of up to 152 mm (six inches) in 24 hours have occurred in some regions of Guatemala. The National Hurricane Center is warning that rainfall amounts of up to 30 inches may fall the next few days in some mountainous regions near where the storm has dissipated. Adding to the mayhem is fallout from the Pacaya volcano in Guatemala, which began erupting three days ago. At least three people have been killed by the volcano, located about 25 miles south of the capital, Guatemala City. The volcano has destroyed 800 homes with lava and brought moderate ash falls to the capital.
Figure 1. Visible satellite image of Tropical Storm Agatha at landfall. The storm was intensifying right up until landfall, and had an impressive "hot tower" of building cumulonimbus clouds near its center that brought heavy rains to Guatemala.
Figure 2. Flooding in Quetzaltenango, Zone 2, in Guatemala on May 29, 2010, after heavy rains from Tropical Storm Agatha. Image credit: Carlos Diaz, climaya.com
Oil spill update
Light onshore winds out of the south are expected to blow over the northern Gulf of Mexico today through Tuesday, resulting increased threats of oil to the Alabama and Mississippi barrier islands, according to the latest trajectory forecasts from NOAA. Winds are expected to shift to southwesterly on Wednesday and continue through Friday, increasing in force to 10 - 20 knots late in the week as a cold front approaches the Gulf. These persistent and strengthening southwesterly winds will likely bring oil very close to shore from Mississippi to the Florida Panhandle by next weekend.
Oil spill resources
My post, What a hurricane would do the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
My post Wednesday with answers to some of the common questions I get about the spill
My post on the Southwest Florida "Forbidden Zone" where surface oil will rarely go
My post on what oil might do to a hurricane
NOAA trajectory forecasts
Deepwater Horizon Unified Command web site
Oil Spill Academic Task Force
University of South Florida Ocean Circulation Group oil spill forecasts
ROFFS Deepwater Horizon page
Surface current forecasts from NOAA's HYCOM model
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery from the University of Miami
Join the "Hurricane Haven" with Dr. Jeff Masters: a new Internet radio show
Beginning next week, I'll be experimenting with a live 1-hour Internet radio show called "Hurricane Haven." The show will be aired at 4pm EDT on Tuesdays, with the first show June 1. Listeners will be able to call in and ask questions. Some topics I'll cover on the first show:
1) What's going on in the tropics right now
2) Preview of the coming hurricane season
3) How a hurricane might affect the oil spill
4) How the oil spill might affect a hurricane
5) New advancements in hurricane science presented at this month's AMS Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology
6) Haiti's vulnerability to a hurricane this season
I hope you can tune in to the broadcast, which will be at http://www.wunderground.com/wxradio/wubroadcast.h tml. If not, the show will be recorded and stored as a podcast.
I'll probably be back Monday with a quick update. Have a great holiday weekend!
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 — Blog Index
No no, no no, no no no, it's "I'll be waiting with baited breath...chum."
In less than three hours it went from nothing to a Tropic storm and then a few hours later it was packing winds of 90mph...
and with this in the Caribbean
Humberto also formed in September not May, I dont think the shear would allow for that kind of development
I just read something very funny a few posts back. Can you guys guess which one it is? Best laugh I've had in ages. (btw that's a rhetorical question) :)
BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHA
LOL!
Does it have to do with seahorses and fish by any chance? lol
If it stays shallow, weak, unorganized yes. If for some reason it turned into a hurricane right off Belize it should hit Cuba.
But also remember this is not 2007 this is 2010 the temperatures are very high for this time of year
Hurricane Season Blog #7: Remnants Of Agatha Could Develop - Quick Update -
I'm sorry to hear that. I can still remember the licking I took swimming to the surface with that fish. If you look close at the photo you can see the spear hole just behind the cheek plate. It went clear through and I swam up with one hand each side of his head as he thrashed wildly. (I was thankful for the wetsuit jacket!)
http://www.aolnews.com/the-grid/article/2010-hurricane-forecast-scorecard/19495922
SSTs can be 120 degrees but if shear is hostile, no development will occur
But also remember this is not 2007 this is 2010 the temperatures are very high for this time of year
Yes, water temps are above normal but they are not in the upper 80's yet (values we will see in another month).
Dang, JFV! Back to plagiarism again?
wow nice job of plagiarism there FIU or whoever you are
Wow, plagiarism at its finest :o)!!
This blog is a place to learn and share information, ideas, forecast info, tropical cyclone discussions, etc. Whatever DR M puts up for discussion is great with me.
I cannot guestimate or forecast TC development if my life depended on it. I have eaten alot of crow!
My areas of knowledge are in the winter storm and severe storm categories. There I do very well. My ideas and thoughts are my own. Plagiarism is not a wise way to learn anything good!!!
It look like it is dropping where Agatha is coming off shore
lol would be interesting to see how that would work out
Anyway, after feeding the troll, ex-Agatha has potential to become Alex =O I frankly doubt she can become anything of note, though admittedly my prayers are with the over 80 that have died in Central America because of it.
...sorry, but no, the lobster was one of them we got that day, but it's placement was just done for the photo.
you should create a blog and have people submit their guesses lol
I think the next name should be
ShowerCurtainKing
That's why I never report him.
WOW!! I can't believe I'm surprised though. I was actually giving JFV some light props in my lurking stage lol. Flagged. I hope he's gone for life, but he always finds away around his bans.
Viewing: 951 - 1001
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 — Blog Index