Subtropical Storm Ana Forms Off US East Coast

Well, it looks like I'll be in for some rain possibly this weekend. Say hello to subtropical storm Ana:



A depression formed off the coast of Florida earlier this week and the National Hurricane Center has been keeping a close eye on it (as I have been too).

The storm is not expected to grow to hurricane strength before making land fall. It does have the potential of dumping quite a bit of rain along the coast though.

Here is the predicted track as of now. Tracking predictions are not too reliable at this point as Ana is sort of meandering around:



Here's a link that allows you to go back and see how it unfolded over the past week:

Subtropical Storm Ana Forms

a reply to: eriktheawful

My best wishes to everyone on the East Coast! This one is going to be a bumpy ride.

a reply to: eriktheawful

Does anyone watch the sun?

a reply to: jazz10

Yes. But I am easily bored so sometimes I stop watching.

a reply to: swanne
Not literally.

I mean the vortexes that connect earth and sun and earthspots.
Youtube Suspicious Observers.
Quite intelligent Ben has taught me so much and may help you too.

a reply to: jazz10

I do not believe that vortexes on the Sun directly links to hurricanes on Earth.

You could have a point with magnetic storms, but not with hurricanes. Hurricanes get created by uprising of moist air over warm waters, typically on equatorial areas. The Sun does feed heat to the process, but this heat does not come in the form of "vortexes" or special "connections". It is just radiant energy.

Bastardi addressed this possible system in his Saturday summary.

It's about 15 minutes long and the part about the development of tropical system is buried in the middle, but you guys out in the coastal states might want to be prepared for possibly active year.

Climate change baby, get ready 4 the monster storms.

a reply to: swanne

Does anyone watch the sun

I tried that once.

What took him so long? Why didn't they name it when it was extratropical ?

I just got my mowing done and am ready to duck and cover here. We are going to be in for a mess according to the current track.

Now all I need is my waders, some pork and beans, my iPad and some battery backup.

a reply to: highfromphoenix

Oh climate change my lily white butt. Atmospheric conditions aren't static, they're very fluid. Early storms have happened many, many times before, and will continue to happen many, many times in the future.

< raises beer to FL > Now that I've moved out of the state, the elusive Cat 1 everyone's been waiting for in Tampa will happen. That'd be my damn luck XD

originally posted by: Greathouse
What took him so long? Why didn't they name it when it was extratropical ?

In the late 1800's to the beginning of the 1900's some storms were named, but the practice of doing so fell out. It wasn't until after WW2 that we started to use a system of names to help avoid confusion and for easier identification.

Good example of this is Astronomy. Which is easier for you to remember when it comes to a comet's name? C/2012 S1 or ISON?

Astronomers are used to dealing with the number classification, but names are much easier for the general public to remember.

As to why they don't name the depressions: Typically the depressions are not as destructive as the actual storms. They are not quite organized, winds may not be sustained winds of high enough speed. When a storm starts to maintain winds over 40 to 45 Mph, you now have a storm that has the potential for much more damage, especially due to the length of time the storms can last.

The exception to this is in the western Pacific where some depressions get named.

I'm here waiting. We could sure use the rain. We're looking at a summer of forrest fires right now.
I kind of like the tropical storms as long as they're not cat three or more. They clean dead branches out of trees. Get rid of the remaining dead leaves from last year and usually bring sweet smelling tropical air along with them. Like a nice little cleaning up by mother nature. Of course then we have to clean up the ground. Which is why we own a chain saw.

I think the Midwest is in for a tougher time this weekend than the mid Atlantic.



www.weather.com...

Ana has been upgraded to tropical storm status as of this morning .

a reply to: swanne

Well stated.

here in myrtle beach SC, the rain comes in squalls , then 10+ minutes of sunshine... during one interlude I picked a handful of string beans... during another clear sky I got to the utility room to wash a load of shorts & hand towels

the grapes are going to be abundant this second year, with the April-May wetness


still have to engineer my 8 rain barrels into a drip irrigation system

I am still waiting for the tropical storm strength winds to come around,,,
very rare gusts in the 15-25 mph range is about the worst so far (knock down dead branches is a good thing)

as Sunday/Monday rolls around the storm is supposed to come more inland before swinging n-e to head for Wilmington/cape fear

its 5 pm somewhere

a reply to: eriktheawful

Thank you for that explanation. I've been through about eight hurricanes and countless tropical storm and am fairly familiar with the process but you did make it a little clearer.

My original comment was a attempt to point out my opinion on the futility of naming storms at this stage. Mother nature is a fickle beast that we really can't predict or claim to know completely about. As for storms I'll use the example of Noname storm in the 90s. It was a huge powerful event on the gulf coast of Florida that destroyed I believe 18,000 homes. It also formed with another low-pressure system off the east coast to form the perfect storm. As portrayed in the movie where George sank his boat.

Hampton VA here. Sun at 4:00PM. It's sunny/cloudy/sunny again and we had a three minute rain event. Soft rain but steady then that stopped. Breezy 5-10mph winds and cooler around 70°.
Storm down graded to a depression but I'm still hoping for a good soaking rain. The tomatoes are still babies.