We still have a month left of the hurricane season, however cyclone formation markedly slows after cold fronts consistently start moving across Florida like this and the last one did. It looks like tropical storm Philippe could be the last named tropical system of Hurricane Season 2017. This mutant storm is crossing over Cuba tonight. It’s expected to travel up the east coast of Florida over the open waters of the Atlantic. The storm is a mutant because it was found to have three vorticity centers making up the storm. It’s being characterized as an elongated center. The 11pm NOAA discussion pointed out that one convection center was found over the Bahamas and the other over the southeastern gulf. The intensity at that time was 35knots, and isn’t expected to strengthen beyond a tropical storm. The storm is primarily producing increased moisture in the atmosphere, but mild increases in wind strength could be seen across southern Florida. The cold front moving across the state will interact with Philippe overnight in a way that will begin to drive the moisture and convection centers of the storm back out into the Atlantic and up the eastern seaboard.
Tag Archives: hurricane season 2017
Nate’s On His Way
Tropical Storm Nate is just south of the Yucatan Peninsula . It’s traveling at 21 mph and has maximum sustained winds at 50 mph. So this tells us that it’s a super fast moving storm and that there are significant winds associated with the storm. The storm tracks into the gulf tomorrow morning and blasts through in only a day, as smaller storms often do. The wind direction and placement tomorrow morning by 6am down in the Yukatan channel looks conducive for the development of surf, and only gets better from there. We can expect the swell to start filling in sometime mid-day or early afternoon tomorrow. There should be really fun surf. At the swells peak on Sunday the surf could get up to head high with gusty winds at times. The close proximity of the storm and strength of the winds offshore favor solid surf.
GFS Run (noon Fri), Showing 6am Sat thru Noon Sun:
Shark Attack in Jacksonville, Florida Yesterday While Surfing Hurricane Maria
The poles is an iconic surf spot in Jacksonville, Florida known for its hollow barrels, and protected jetty just a thousand yards away. Bordered by the Mayport naval station this spot sits just on the edge of a no beach entry zone. Yesterday, while Hurricane Maria was weakening, at the time down to 80mph winds on Monday, the surf from the overnight 105mph strength winds was filling in at the coast. Surfers eager to score thumping barrels with air winds at the Mayport poles were out in the lineup searching for a few gems. Unfortunately, we’re in the time of year when shark attacks are most frequent. The month of September poses the highest risk of being attacked by a shark since waters are warmest and fish species flourish along the coast. Yesterday at the poles a surfer was attacked by a shark while in the water during this epic Hurricane Maria surf. This is an unfortunate, but not completely shocking incident. Surf report/shark attack image by the long time Jacksonville, Mayport Poles surf reporter: 911surfreport.com.
