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Hurricane Irene and the mid-Atlantic (Pre-game show)


Ian

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What is up with CapitalWeather? They are only calling for 0.5-2inches of rain with this. That's basically nothing to be concerned about. Normally they are spot on, but surely they are well off the rainfall total here? I don't know much, so can someone clarify if the call for only 2inches of rain at most for DC makes any sense?

http://www.washingto....html#pagebreak

I think their forecast makes perfect sense. I wouldn't want to make the call for 4-6 inches of rain for DC right now being right on the cutoff. Wait til tomorrow and see.

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I really doubt that's the case... Isabel was close to as good a track as you can get to have hurricane-forced winds into the bay...didn't manage it. 1933 didn't manage it. Connie didn't do it either. Hazel did, but that was as an extratropical storm already.

For storms that go east of us, look to Floyd for a comparison... Irene is forecasted to hit NC at a similar strength and size, albeit traveling over less land. Floyd was terrible on the east coast from rain, but I think people hoping for/expecting a much windier outcome than what Floyd gave to the east coast are going to disappointed/surprised.

I was rooting for a stronger Isabel. Luckily, RIC only got what it did as it was bad enough. Once the storm is over, it sucks coping with the aftermath and dealing with closed businesses, downed trees, no place open or with power to get gas, batteries or water or food.

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I really doubt that's the case... Isabel was close to as good a track as you can get to have hurricane-forced winds into the bay...didn't manage it. 1933 didn't manage it. Connie didn't do it either. Hazel did, but that was as an extratropical storm already.

For storms that go east of us, look to Floyd for a comparison... Irene is forecasted to hit NC at a similar strength and size, albeit traveling over less land. Floyd was terrible on the east coast from rain, but I think people hoping for/expecting a much windier outcome than what Floyd gave to the east coast are going to disappointed/surprised.

Yea, I re-thought a bit after my post and agree. However, the center of Isabel was never closer than about 90 miles from the bay. It passed to the W so that makes a big difference.

However, IF the center of Irene moves up the delmarva and not off the coast then the bay could easily see hurricane for gusts. Probably not going to happen that way but regardless the bay is in for some damage.

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Weird because some of the CWG twitter feeds are calling for much higher totals in the metro area. Didn't they call for a "Couple" of inches, which to me is 3ish, not .5 ish.

The forecast makes sense and is scaled right. I don't personally know where the gradient will set up nor did I know of the forecast till seeing it. I might have gone higher myself (though would rather not give totals at this range personally!)... tho if 18z is any indication maybe it was wise to be conservative. I do generally agree that the idea of Floyd is a good one--last night I was not arguing it wasn't just that the models were not showing a Floyd. I think it's arguable they still aren't though if it comes into NC the northeast will not get destroyed by wind and surge, that's pretty sure. Shifts of 20 miles are quite important.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Floyd1999_accumulations_bilingual.gif

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I would think that with Irene now making her more northerly turn (compared to the prior WNW), the current cold front clearing our area, and all of the players now on the field, the upcoming 00Z model runs may start the final track trend. Will it be east or west?

MDstorm

Did the cold front actually clear? I figured it just kind of died out as it bumped into the influence of Irene.

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It will be the entire bay and worst on the western shore given the forecast track. Winds are going to howl from the SE - NE during the peak. It's going to stack up a lot of water on the western side.

Isabel had sustained 50-55kt winds. If the current forecast track is right, the bay can easily have hurricane force winds this time. Insurance companies are in for a massive bill.

I'm not sure the Bay ever gets SE winds. They should be E, shifting to NE, then N, and finally NW. Given that, it strikes me that places like Norfolk would seem poised to see the greatest surge in light of the prolonged N fetch. I wouldn't think the western shore would see anything like Isabel. Nor would I expect there to be much surge in the northern reaches of the bay. It's the storms that go just west of they bay that can really pile the surge up in the bay and its tributaries

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Did the cold front actually clear? I figured it just kind of died out as it bumped into the influence of Irene.

The front is still to the north. It should wash out over the area tho MOS gives us like 6-12 hrs of north wind.

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This hurricane reminds me of last winter............more of the same crap with being on the western fringe.

The winter analogs are silly as there is not much comparison. This is pretty typical (on the high side of potential) for a tropical system off the East Coast.

I'd watch to see what if anything remains of the front as it washes out. Whatever is left of it seems to want to be the place where the transitional frontal zone to the northwest of the low wants to get going. I would argue on something like the NAM that the shield should actually come back further northwest initially (more like the euro) given the 700mb look than it does.

I could see higher totals in the larger area than Floyd if the slow movement is real. We'll see if that continues I guess, but for now...

Want to say D.C. will be able to pile up a solid amount but in 3 hours I could look foolish I suppose.

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