DAY 89

Irene is now a 50 mph tropical storm moving through upstate New York and New England. It is forecast to remain a tropical or post-tropical storm all the way through Canada and out in to the cold north Atlantic where she will die. She made 2 more landfalls in the US, one New Jersey, and another on Long Island in New York.

(Tropical Storm Irene)

Much of the same is happening there as occurred in the south, just on a bit of a smaller scale. Inland flooding will be the story there just as it was down in North Carolina and Virginia. New York City is getting it's motor running again after completely shutting down as a precaution. You could play Monday morning quarterback after the fact and say that this was a waste. But that was the call that they made, and who knows what would have happened if they just went with voluntary evacuations. Let's just hope that this doesn't cause a distrust in forecasting. I myself have always been in the school of thought that you give the public the most accurate information possible and let them make decisions for themselves.

(Irene raises the East River in New York)

Elsewhere in the tropics there have been a few surprises that I haven't made an entry for yet. Tropical Depression #10 that was very close to becoming a tropical storm, fizzled out before it could become Jose. And then a swirl pops up in the central Atlantic near Bermuda and is immediately designated Tropical Storm Jose. He is forecast to continue moving north into cold waters and dissipate sometime tomorrow.

(Tropical Storm Jose)

There is also a strong tropical wave that has emerged from the coast of Africa. It has been designated Invest 92L and is being given a near 100% chance of becoming a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours. It has a nice tight spiral evident from the satellite, that view comes at the expense of its convection being pushed away to the southwest.

(Invest 92L)

If this storm does get named, they will call it Katia. And if this happens before Wednesday, it will be the our 7th named storm in the month of August. That is the most August storms since we had 8 named storms in August of 2004. 92L is forecast to trek across the Atlantic on a WNW heading. It is not projected to effect any land masses at this point. But it is still way early on that thought.