Hurricane Michael

[phw115wvwx]

We have a new tropical depression in the Atlantic.  Tropical depression 13 is way out in the open water and moving slowly northward.  It may have a chance to become a tropical storm, but that chance is short-lived as a trough will bring lots of wind shear over it just a couple days from now.  There's no threat to land from this system.

[TWCToday]

What a waste of a name. There has been some debate in the weather community over if this thing even deserves to get named.

[toxictwister00]

What a waste of a name. There has been some debate in the weather community over if this thing even deserves to get named.

Oh, how we have had plenty of cases of that over the past few years...

[TWCmatthew]

It isn't projected to move more than 250-300 miles in the next week with very little steering. Also, the area it's in doesn't look that favorable for rapid intensification as far as sea surface temperatures. This storm may intensify very slowly to a weak tropical storm not impacting land. However, potentially soon-to-be Michael will have all the fish he wants!

[toxictwister00]

Michael
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at3.shtml?5-daynl#contents

[phw115wvwx]

Michael is starting to intensify at a good pace.  It had winds of 50 mph yesterday, but it's now up to 65 mph and expected to become a hurricane soon.  Michael is a really small storm, but that size can be an advantage as smaller storms can wrap themselves up tighter and make the winds speeds jump upward faster.  The forecast track suggests that it will get caught up in the same trough that will pick up Leslie.

[phw115wvwx]

I have to make a double post here for a really obvious reason:  Michael has become the seventh hurricane of the Atlantic season.  It's undergoing a rapid intensification phase as I speak.  The winds have skyrocketed to 105 mph at 1 AM EDT today, which puts it up to Category 2.  It was only at 65 mph just 12 hours ago.  The pressure during the same 12-hour period has plummeted from 998 mb to 974 mb.  Michael may even reach major hurricane status soon.  It's a good thing Michael isn't in the Gulf of Mexico!

Update:  Michael has become the first major hurricane of the season at 5 AM EDT today with winds of 115 mph.