Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Edouard Makes Landfall - Extended Models

Edouard:

Edouard made landfall this morning well north of the Houston area, closer to the TX/LA border. All of the models had been saying that the system should have made landfall near the Houston area, so why did Edouard make landfall so much further north? Two main reasons: The center of circulation redeveloped just off of the Mississippi River delta shifting the lowest pressure region northward, and the high pressure centered in the mid-United States moved northeastward slightly allowing Edouard to move north as well. Both of these variables saved the Galveston area because 1) it didn't make landfall in that area and 2) the storm had less time over water and was thus not able to reach hurricane status.

The storm will continue to move into Texas through the day and into tomorrow. Texans were actually looking forward to this storm because it brought a chance of rainfall, which is needed considering the drought. Here are the current total rainfall estimates for Edouard as of 01:45 pm CDT:


As can be seen, rainfall estimates of as much as 7 inches of rainfall have occurred east of Houston, however little rainfall has fallen to the west. Sadly, this missed the most drought stricken areas, as shown in the image below (Dolly and Edouard's tracks are indicated by the arrows):




But don't worry Texas, there are plenty of other chances for a tropical system to bring some much needed rainfall. Hopefully the system will be as weak as Edouard and only bring rain rather than the destruction.

Long Term Models:

I thought I would just include the long term models (GFS and European only) to get an idea of what might occur in the next two weeks in the tropics. I have the GFS/European at 6 and 9 days out...and the European at 10 days (furthest it goes)...and the GFS at 16 days.

6 Day GFS:


6 Day European:

9 Day GFS:


9 Day European:

10 Day European:

16 Day GFS:

The GFS is much more active than the European over the next week and a half to two weeks. The GFS wants to bring off of Africa strong wave after strong wave, while the European wants to fizzle each one of these waves. The only system that the European and GFS are in agreement with is the one off of the Carolinas' coast in the 10 day European and 9 day GFS. Otherwise it is difficult to make any definite determinations as to whether the GFS will be right or not in a more active period ahead. The one thing the GFS does have going for it is a conducive MJO, which would lead to more development in 10-15 days. We shall see.
The other interesting feature on these maps is in the 6 day period, where the GFS indicates a lowering of pressure off of the SE coast, while the European shoots this lowering pressure region up and out to the northern Atlantic. Considering we have already had two storms develop from lingering troughs in the Gulf and off the SE coast, it would be best to watch this area over the next 5-7 days considering the strength of the approaching trough.

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