14 July 2008

Bertha hitting Bermuda...

As I eluded to in my update LAST Monday, Bermuda should indeed being keeping a close eye on Bertha.  As of now, they don't have a choice, the eyewall is right over the island.  Though only a 55kt tropical storm as of this morning, it does have an intact and large eyewall.

You can view a longer, long-range radar loop at:
http://einstein.atmos.colostate.edu/~mcnoldy/tropics/bertha08/Bertha_13Jul08.gif
and a shorter, short-range radar loop at:
http://einstein.atmos.colostate.edu/~mcnoldy/tropics/bertha08/Bertha_14Jul08_short.gif

As of 15Z, the intensity is 55kts and 990mb, and heading N at 6kts.  This very slow motion will leave Bermuda in tropical storm conditions for at least a day.  Over the next few days, the storm will SLOWLY move northward, then NE.  Intensity should remain nearly constant, with weakening a few days out once it gets over colder water.  Bermuda is under a Tropical Storm Warning, and can expect 3-5" of rain, and large battering waves.

Bertha will easily be the longest-lived named storm during July in recorded history (back to 1851).  It is also the 2nd longest-lived July hurricane.  Truly a remarkable storm!

Elsewhere, one of the easterly waves I mentioned last week has gotten much better organized.  It exited the African coast on Thursday, and is now located near 45W, traveling west at 15kts.  It has an embedded 1008mb Low, and a healthy circulation.  The next name/number on deck is 3/Cristobal.


Please visit my tropical Atlantic headquarters.

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