Tropical Update

Since my last post on Hurricane Ike, three other named tropical storms have formed across the Atlantic. Unfortunately, exams and Penn State Football has dominated my life over the past two weeks, so this is this the first chance I have had to write about them. Anyway...

Hurricane Kyle formed in the Caribbean from a strong tropical low pressure system. Kyle proceeded to strengthen over the Gulf Stream reaching its maximum intensity on September 28th with winds of 80 mph and an estimated minimum pressure of 984mb. Kyle proceeded make landfall in Nova Scotia before becoming extratropical over the cold waters of the North Atlantic. Interestingly enough, the hurricane warnings issued by the Canadian Hurricane Centre. Hurricane advisories were not issued in Canada prior to 2004, but that policy was changed after Hurricane Juan devastated Halifax in 2003.

Tropical Storm Laura formed shortly after Kyle from a strong subtropical wave over the Central Atlantic. Laura never interacted with land, and only held tropical characteristics for a few hours before becoming an extratropical cyclone.

Most recently, Tropical Storm Marco formed just yesterday from a low pressure system in the Bay of Campeche. Marco is an unusually small system, and had tropical storm winds that only extended 15 miles out from the center at landfall. It is without a doubt the smallest named storm in the Atlantic Basin that I have ever seen in my 12 years of being obsessed with tropical meteorology. Marco made landfall this morning in Mexico with winds of 65 mph. Marco will continue to move inland over Mexico, and will likely lose its tropical characteristics later tonight.