The First Fluffy of the Season in the Atlantic

[Richard Halter]

FLUFFY: A tropical thingee that is organized enough to gain attention from the NHC, but still not strong enough to gain Tropical Depression status. Name taken from the three-headed dog monster used in the first Harry Potter book to guard the Sorcerer's Stone.

The first decent looking wave with a semblance of rotation has moved off the African coast and into the Atlantic. Marginal atmospheric and ocean conditions are going to make development slow to occur if it does at all, but at least now there is something for the cane people to follow!

 

[Greg Campbell]

Just a plug for the Hurricane Alley web site. They offer most of the data an armchair tropical storm chaser craves.

Here's the latest visible sat shot, The 'fluffy' looks respectably organised considering it just got it's feet wet.

[Update - Wow, compare the updated link above to the pic below. Poor 'Fluffy' doesn't look so healthy.]


[Broken External Image]:http://152.80.49.216/archdat/tc04/A...km/20040705.1802.meteo-7.vis.x.INVEST.95L.jpg

-Greg

 

[Simone Lussardi]

The LLCC is very well formed as seen on the VIS images. The 'fluffy' looks like is going to set up a curved band from the west down to the south and wrap to the east.

Early season anyway, the athmosphere is still not loaded enough, not like the nwest pac. where I live, here is a loaded gun 365 days a year :lol:

Seems also that in the middle atmosphere the humidity is not so high. Should the sfc convergence lead to enough humidity in an area 100 km in diameter for all the vertical column above the LLCC, this will be the first tropical cyclone of the season.

:wink:

 

[John Cameron]

from the latest TROP Discussion
EASTERN ATLANTIC OCEAN TROPICAL WAVE 21W/22W SOUTH OF 18N MOVING
WEST 15-20 KT. A WELL-DEVELOPED MIDDLE LEVEL CIRCULATION MOVED
OFF THE COAST OF AFRICA EARLIER TODAY AND IS NOW LOCATED NEAR
12N23W HEADING TO THE WEST-NORTHWEST. CLIMATOLOGICALLY
HOWEVER...TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION HAS NOT BEEN KNOWN
TO OCCUR THIS FAR EAST IN THE ATLANTIC...THIS EARLY IN THE
SEASON

 

[Bridget Beddow]

hurricanes

Did anyone catch that hurricane that was swirling in the wrong direction and hit the South American east coast? I can't remember if it was late last season or extremely early this season, but it had the meteorologists perplexed about it's backward organization in that particular hemisphere.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Re: hurricanes

Originally posted by Bridget Beddow
Did anyone catch that hurricane that was swirling in the wrong direction and hit the South American east coast? I can't remember if it was late last season or extremely early this season, but it had the meteorologists perplexed about it's backward organization in that particular hemisphere.

If I'm not mistaken, it was rotating anticyclonically, which is normal for a low pressure system in the southern hemisphere.. It was quite a site, however!

 

[Bridget Beddow]

hurricane

I just remembered hearing about it on the news, and maybe the forecaster in our area was just perplexed, but I remember it was a pretty noteworthy storm. I just couldn't remember what exactly the big to-do was about it - but we always keep our eye on hurricanes in my area just in case.

 

[B Ozanne]

Did anyone catch that hurricane that was swirling in the wrong direction and hit the South American east coast? I can't remember if it was late last season or extremely early this season, but it had the meteorologists perplexed about it's backward organization in that particular hemisphere.

I remember that, it was wild. I believe it was spinning in the proper direction since it was in the southern hemisphere. Does anybody know if that was a true hurricane? It sure looked like one in visible images but the big discussion was whether or not it was warm or cold cored at the surface. Also, any storm like that in that part of the world is very rare.

 

[Bridget Beddow]

hurricanes

I cannot even remember about that storm at this point, I just remembered the local weatherman was talking about it and I do remember that the timing of the occurance of the hurricane was also what made it so awkward.

 

[Richard Halter]

It was a Hurricane, the first to be recorded hitting South America since satellite observations have been available. I believe the Brazilians named it Hurricane Catarina, and for the longest time the Brazilian government and National Weather Service refused to believe that it was a real hurricane. They claimed that they couldn't happen, that it was just a 45mph windstorm. Well it had Cat 1 winds.

Of course it ended up killing people, destroying thousands of homes and causing a lot of trouble.

http://post_119_gulfport_ms.tripod.com/catarina.html

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegaller...4_catalina.html

If it looks like a hurricane in the tropics, and the NHC says it is a hurricane in the tropics, then hey guys in Brazil, it must be a hurricane in the tropics.

 

[Bridget Beddow]

Thank you

Awesome - Thank you, Richard!

 

[B Ozanne]

Richard, thanks those are good links. From the beginning I thought it was a hurricane. All other data aside those images are pretty convincing, I've never seen a cold core system like that.

 

[Larry J. Kosch]

Will Fluffy still be "Fluffy"?

If by some chance that "Fluffy" gains strength and have sustained winds of 39 mph in the next few days, that tropical storm will have to be renamed..."Alex". See link for 2004 Atlantic hurricane names:

http://www.stormfax.com/atlnames.htm

There are six sets of names being used by the NHC for storm/hurricane naming purposes. Sorry to say there's no Fluffy in the name lists. However, there's a Hermine name in this year's name list. That's pretty close to the lead female character's name in the Harry Potter movies. If we get a memorable hurricane named Frances this year, that name will have to be retired. Then it would be possible to work the Fluffy name in.

Did anybody find their name on this year's hurricane name list?? 8)

 

[B Ozanne]

Yes, we need a big F storm so we can retire the name. I'll put my vote in for Fluffy if that happens. How ridiculous would that be if Fluffy was a hurricane name?

 

[Larry J. Kosch]

Fluffy a CAT-5??

What would happen if the NHC decided to put the Fluffy name in? Only to have a CAT-5 hurricane brew up, sweep its way thru the Carribean and the Gulf of Mexico then make landfall in New Orleans? Then it plows right thru the Midwest as a tropical storm and eventually die out somewhere around Toronto, CA?? And we could have babies named "Fluffy" in the time-honored tradition of naming babies born in a hurricane?? Oh the Horrors!! :shock: :shock: :shock: