Tropical Storm Cindy

[toxictwister00]

Here's CINDY!



BULLETIN
TROPICAL STORM CINDY ADVISORY NUMBER   1
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL       AL032011
500 PM AST WED JUL 20 2011

...TROPICAL STORM CINDY FORMS IN THE OPEN CENTRAL ATLANTIC...


SUMMARY OF 500 PM AST...2100 UTC...INFORMATION
----------------------------------------------
LOCATION...35.2N 53.8W
ABOUT 665 MI...1065 KM ENE OF BERMUDA
ABOUT 1495 MI...2405 KM W OF THE AZORES
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...40 MPH...65 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT...NE OR 50 DEGREES AT 24 MPH...39 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...1009 MB...29.80 INCHES

[phw115wvwx]

Cindy will be alive for no more than 48 hours before going extratropical.  Unless you're on a ship in the open Atlantic, no one is going to be impacted.  Did this one really need to be upgraded to a tropical storm?  I sense a lot of name-wasting here.

[WeatherWitness]

Cindy will be alive for no more than 48 hours before going extratropical.  Unless you're on a ship in the open Atlantic, no one is going to be impacted.  Did this one really need to be upgraded to a tropical storm?  I sense a lot of name-wasting here.

So, if I'm understanding your post correctly Patrick, if a storm reaches tropical storm status but it won't remain that way for long and won't affect anyone, can the NHC choose not to name it? I thought they had to name every storm once it reached tropical storm status, whether it impacted anyone or not.

[phw115wvwx]

So, if I'm understanding your post correctly Patrick, if a storm reaches tropical storm status but it won't remain that way for long and won't affect anyone, can the NHC choose not to name it? I thought they had to name every storm once it reached tropical storm status, whether it impacted anyone or not.

NHC's job is to designate if any system is a tropical storm, which automatically gets a name no matter what.  This system is one that could have easily been forgotten or ignored in the not too distant past.  While Cindy may technically reach tropical storm criteria, I'm questioning our entire naming system where every storm gets a name.  I'd like to see more practicality.  Do you really want to waste names on storms that are going to die very soon and provide virtually no impact?  After all, there were several name-wasters in 2005 that made us run out of names on the list, and we had to resort to the Greek alphabet.

[toxictwister00]

So, if I'm understanding your post correctly Patrick, if a storm reaches tropical storm status but it won't remain that way for long and won't affect anyone, can the NHC choose not to name it? I thought they had to name every storm once it reached tropical storm status, whether it impacted anyone or not.

NHC's job is to designate if any system is a tropical storm, which automatically gets a name no matter what.  This system is one that could have easily been forgotten or ignored in the not too distant past.  While Cindy may technically reach tropical storm criteria, I'm questioning our entire naming system where every storm gets a name.  I'd like to see more practicality.  Do you really want to waste names on storms that are going to die very soon and provide virtually no impact?  After all, there were several name-wasters in 2005 that made us run out of names on the list, and we had to resort to the Greek alphabet.

I agree, but as far as 2005 goes since it got so active so fast for so long maybe they second guess themselves on what storms would become a threat or a dud because if I'm not mistaken that year the Atlantic ocean temps were near record warmth one of the many reasons so many tropical cyclones were able to develop so quickly.

[WeatherWitness]

So, if I'm understanding your post correctly Patrick, if a storm reaches tropical storm status but it won't remain that way for long and won't affect anyone, can the NHC choose not to name it? I thought they had to name every storm once it reached tropical storm status, whether it impacted anyone or not.

NHC's job is to designate if any system is a tropical storm, which automatically gets a name no matter what.  This system is one that could have easily been forgotten or ignored in the not too distant past.  While Cindy may technically reach tropical storm criteria, I'm questioning our entire naming system where every storm gets a name.  I'd like to see more practicality.  Do you really want to waste names on storms that are going to die very soon and provide virtually no impact?  After all, there were several name-wasters in 2005 that made us run out of names on the list, and we had to resort to the Greek alphabet.

I am kind of both ways on the situation. Whereas I don't feel we should waste names on storms that have very short life spans, I also think setting a standard for when a storm should be named may get a little confusing at times.

[Jonathon]

Bulletin
Tropical Storm Cindy Advisory    2
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL       AL032011
1100 PM AST Wed Jul 20 2011
...Cindy a little stronger and moving quickly northeastward over the central Atlantic...
Summary of 1100 PM AST...0300 UTC...information
---------------------------------------------------------------
Location... 36.3 N 51.6 W
About 800 MI... 1290 KM ENE of Bermuda
About 1355 MI...2180 KM W of The Azores
Maximum sustained winds...50 mph... 85 km/h
Present movement...NE or 45 degrees at 23 mph... 37 km/h
Minimum central pressure...1004 mb...29.65 inches

[Eric]

Cindy will be alive for no more than 48 hours before going extratropical.  Unless you're on a ship in the open Atlantic, no one is going to be impacted.  Did this one really need to be upgraded to a tropical storm?  I sense a lot of name-wasting here.

So... a tropical storm should be designated as such, named, and tracked only if it threatens land?  Is that what you're saying?

[phw115wvwx]

So... a tropical storm should be designated as such, named, and tracked only if it threatens land?  Is that what you're saying?

I have no issue with calling a system a tropical storm, but I wish that there were more parameters to earn a name.  We have so many ships out in the ocean that it was mandated for every storm to get one.  My greatest fear is that the public on land hears all these names handed out but sees none of them posing any harm, which will cause a great deal of complacency along the shorelines.  Then, something like Hurricane Dora in the Eastern Pacific strikes the coast and catches everyone off guard.

I'm wishing for tropical storms to just be a number like tropical depressions until they are deemed a significant threat to land according to the forecast track, then hand out a name.  Hurricanes should automatically earn a name.  I simply want to make names more valuable to where we don't have a season with 25 named storms but only 10 made any kind of impact.  Does that make sense?

[Eric]

I honestly don't understand what the difference is.  Occasions when the number of storms exceeds the name list are extremely rare.  Besides 2005, if my memory is correct, there was potentially one other year when this would have happened, but there was no name list back then, and this was also the pre-satellite era.

Also, sometimes it's very hard to tell when a storm might actually impact land.  Hurricane Gilbert became a storm long, long before it ever impacted land.  Wouldn't it get extremely confusing if a storm got named only when the first tropical storm watch was issued?

[phw115wvwx]

I honestly don't understand what the difference is.  Occasions when the number of storms exceeds the name list are extremely rare.  Besides 2005, if my memory is correct, there was potentially one other year when this would have happened, but there was no name list back then, and this was also the pre-satellite era.

Also, sometimes it's very hard to tell when a storm might actually impact land.  Hurricane Gilbert became a storm long, long before it ever impacted land.  Wouldn't it get extremely confusing if a storm got named only when the first tropical storm watch was issued?

Yes, and that's why I'm torn.   We seem to be naming storms more aggressively now in the past few years alone, so it feels like more names are wasted.  I'm simply scared that all the over-warning and over-hyping of each storm turns people off and makes them ill-prepared for when a big one worthy of all the warnings and hype strikes.  People pay attention to names more, so I just wanted to provide a way to make certain storms that pose a serious threat stand out more.

[Eric]

We seem to be naming storms more aggressively now in the past few years alone, so it feels like more names are wasted.

How is that?  When a tropical storm forms, it is assigned a name.  No one controls how many storms form in a season.  In fact, the last time I remember the NHC making the decision to not name a storm was the "Perfect Storm" in 1991 - it was somewhat ambiguous at the time, even though it's seen been declared an unnamed tropical storm in post-season analysis.

[Lightning]

Cindy will disappear in no time.

[toxictwister00]

I agree with Patrick, I don't think this thing should have been named Cindy.

[phw115wvwx]

I can tell you from inside experience that NHC has lately been more aggressive in declaring a borderline system as a tropical storm or depression more often than in previous years.  They don't want the risk of having a borderline system suddenly causing problems with no public attention or warning because it's unnamed.  However, this move means that we see a lot more storms like Cindy.  I don't want to cause a huge argument about this matter, so I'll stop here.