Just days away from hurricane season.. water's heating up

[SoCalDem]

and clouds are starting to peel off the African coast..


other realtime analysis
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/real-time/wavetrak/sal.html

[magellan]

1. If I'm reading the product right

...that big orange spot off of W. Africa is a dry air mass. Nothing to be worried about...yet.

[SoCalDem]

2. There are several maps at that site..

The water vapor one is the one with turquoise, I think..

[Oversea Visitor]

4. Eeeeek I saw Casper on water vapour map

:hide:

[SoCalDem]

20. the face reminds me of an evil clown

:scared:

[magellan]

6. Yep. But I don't worry till I start seeing big storms

...and tropical waves rolling across the Atlantic. Then it's batten down the hatches! :)

[sutz12]

7. Th big red spot is the wrong location

Look farther south, in the gulf. That's where they start.

[magellan]

9. There is a low coming off of TX right now

But our friendly Channel 9 (Orlando) weatherman said it isn't tropical in nature. But yes, I think you're right, at the beginning of the season the Gulf is the main worry, not what comes off Africa.

[sutz12]

10. I meant the gulf over by Africa....I forget the name.

That's where the hurricanes tend to start. They then track across the Atlantic along the easterly trade winds at those latitudes. The Gulf of Mexico collects water and circulates it locally, so it tends to heat up more. The warmer water is what intensifies the storms.

Almost all Atlantic hurricanes start in the gulf of Africa there.

[SoCalDem]

21. I could not find the name of the gulf, but there's an island group

where they monitor the waves & pressures and it's just west of africa.. That's the "breeding ground" for most of our storms..remember last year when one spun north east and hit Spain..for the FIRST time ever:(

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SoCalDem]

5. Names this year

2006
Alberto
Beryl
Chris
Debby
Ernesto
Florence
Gordon
Helene
Isaac
Joyce
Kirk
Leslie
Michael
Nadine
Oscar
Patty
Rafael
Sandy
Tony
Valerie
William

[dipsydoodle]

13. Did you make that lot up ?

We don't have enough in the UK to use names.

Do they always start with a masculine name ? If not then the switchover would allow Homer instead of Helene, Bart instead of Beryl and Maggie or Marge instead of Michael.:)

[SoCalDem]

14. The lists are at NOAA's website..all the way to 2010

They used to be all female names :(

[dipsydoodle]

19. Well now

you learn something new every day. So - thank you.:)

[SoCalDem]

8. Holy SHIT.. gotta see this composite pic at the site

[Cooley Hurd]

12. Jeebus!

:scared:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

11. Mother earth is having quite a time deciding what to do about

the minor irritant living on her face.... pity.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Question for those in the know

How does the Gulf of Mexico's temperature compare to the same time last year?

[SoCalDem]

16. Here's a site for water temps all over the place

http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/sat_data/?product=sst®ion=floridacoast¬humbs=1

[Lochloosa]

17. Bornaginhooligan, the temp as it stands right now really does

not matter. The Gulf will heat up. That is a given. How hot it gets, the prevailing winds, where the Bermuda High parks itself, etc. will determine the strength and severity of the storms. When it starts hitting the mid to high 80's, look out.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. Are you saying that...

where it stands now will have no impact on where it ends up?