• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Amazing eyewall 'kink' observed in Wilma ~230AM EDT

Joined
Jul 18, 2004
Messages
756
Location
Westport, CT
Jeff and I were discussing this somewhat in the TA earlier, but feel this is unique enough of an occurrance to warrant its own thread.

Notice in images 3 thru 8 that an interesting 'ripple' develops in the SErn eyewall of Wilma, which also seems to coincide with the 130/135kt wind readings from the recon flight. I have never seen something like this before and am wondering if anyone else has noted a similar occurance in any previous storms. It has an appearance similar to that of a line of storms that is "bowing out," something I have never seen before in the inner eyewall of a hurricane. Hmm.

Image #1:
06029tq.png


Image #2:
06089ty.png


Image #3:
06130zm.png


Image #4:
06195di.png


Image #5:
06241hk.png


Image #6:
06299jb.png


Image #7:
06356uh.png


Image #8:
06409vf.png


I find it very likely that the above feature, whatever it might be, was almost single-handedly responsible for the 130/135kt wind readings from the last recon flight; the location and timeframe suggest that the recon data was taken very near to this feature as it whipped around the SE eyewall. Since then, Wilma has undergone some additional interesting transformations including the apparent breakdown of the NW eyewall into what appear to be several smaller bands...whatever it is that Wilma is trying to accomplish, she's only got a short time left to do it.
 
"Aircraft flight level winds
were as high as 135 kt earlier but Doppler radar observations
indicate that these winds were likely associated with transient
mesoscale features."

from the 5am discussion.
 
There looks as though there was another one of the mesoscale features that have spun through the eastern half of the inner eyewall in the past 15 minutes. It was lower in amplitude, but looked similar with a "kink" and an area of enhanced reflectivities on the nose of the kink. The feature just missed Miami to the west, and is near I95 now.
 
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