Hurricane Season 2012 # 1

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Op woensdag 8 augustus 2012 13:38 schreef aloa het volgende:
De volgende ligt klaar boven Afrika. Dit kan wel eens een zware worden en zal richting de oostkust van de VS trekken.

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Intensity forecast for Isaac in the Gulf of Mexico

Isaac will likely be a 50 - 55 mph tropical storm on Saturday and Sunday as it moves over Cuba, but once the storm pops off the coast of Cuba into the Florida Straits, it will likely intensify. Isaac will be over very warm waters of 31 - 32°C (88 - 90°F) in the Florida Straits, wind shear will be light to moderate, and the upper-level wind pattern will feature an upper-level anticyclone over the storm, aiding its upper-level outflow.

If Isaac makes landfall near the tip of South Florida, as the latest 12Z (8 am EDT) runs of the GFS, HWRF, and GFDL models are suggesting, the 24 hours it has over water before landfall will probably allow it to intensify by 15 - 20 mph. I think the storm is too large for it to increase its winds more than that in just 24 hours.

If Isaac spends a full two days over water after passing the Florida Keys, it is possible that it will have enough time to develop a full eyewall and undergo rapid intensification into a Category 2 or 3 hurricane, though none of the models are currently calling for this to happen. The 11 am EDT NHC wind probability forecast gave Isaac a 7% chance of becoming a Category 2 or 3 hurricane in the Gulf.

While the surface waters in the Gulf of Mexico are very warm, near 30 - 31°C, the total heat content of these waters is unusually low for this time of year. We got lucky with the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current this summer, as it did not shed a big warm eddy during the height of hurricane season, like happened in 2005 (I discuss this in my Gulf of Mexico Loop Current Tutorial.) Without the type of super-high heat energy we had in 2005 in the Gulf of Mexico, I doubt we can get a Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf in 2012.