Atlantic Tropical Update – 8/17/09

Hello to all…

Here is the latest update on the Tropics:

Tropical Storm Claudette made landfall in the Florida Panhandle shortly after midnight. Claudette has now weakened to a Tropical Depression and the National Hurricane Center has issued its last advisory on Claudette. Further advisories will be issued by the Hydrometerological Prediction Center (HPC) as Claudette’s remnants make their way further inland.

Bill is now the first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season. Bill is expected to continue to intensify and could become a major hurricane on Wednesday. Bill is expected to remain over the open Atlantic waters not affecting any land areas through the next 5-days.

Ana is currently a weak tropical depression and may dissipate later today as the system is currently very week. If it survives the day, Ana is likely to go over the terrain of Hispaniola and is quite likely to dissipate upon that landfall if that occurs. A Tropical Storm Watch remains in effect for Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Maarten, St. Martin, Saba, St. Eustatius, Guadelope, St. Barthelemy, and the Dominican Repulic from Cabo Engano westward to Cabo Beata.

Thanks very much to folks who were on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 reflector system Sunday Evening and on the weekly prep net Saturday Evening. The VoIP Hurricane Net’s activation threshold is generally for all hurricanes or potentially strong tropical storms with maximum sustained winds of 65 MPH or higher as tropical storms of that magnitude could get to hurricane strength before landfall and could produce category-1 hurricane type damage. Weaker tropical storms do not prompt a formal net but we may have folks monitor the system during those events as personnel allow.

Hello to all…

Here is the latest update on the Tropics:

Tropical Storm Claudette made landfall in the Florida Panhandle shortly after midnight. Claudette has now weakened to a Tropical Depression and the National Hurricane Center has issued its last advisory on Claudette. Further advisories will be issued by the Hydrometerological Prediction Center (HPC) as Claudette’s remnants make their way further inland.

Bill is now the first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season. Bill is expected to continue to intensify and could become a major hurricane on Wednesday. Bill is expected to remain over the open Atlantic waters not affecting any land areas through the next 5-days.

Ana is currently a weak tropical depression and may dissipate later today as the system is currently very week. If it survives the day, Ana is likely to go over the terrain of Hispaniola and is quite likely to dissipate upon that landfall if that occurs. A Tropical Storm Watch remains in effect for Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Maarten, St. Martin, Saba, St. Eustatius, Guadelope, St. Barthelemy, and the Dominican Repulic from Cabo Engano westward to Cabo Beata.

Thanks very much to folks who were on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 reflector system Sunday Evening and on the weekly prep net Saturday Evening. The VoIP Hurricane Net’s activation threshold is generally for all hurricanes or potentially strong tropical storms with maximum sustained winds of 65 MPH or higher as tropical storms of that magnitude could get to hurricane strength before landfall and could produce category-1 hurricane type damage. Weaker tropical storms do not prompt a formal net but we may have folks monitor the system during those events as personnel allow.

Thanks to the folks on the KJ4G-R Echolink Repeater system who are in the Florida panhandle area and had the National Weather Service Tallahasee, Florida, WX4TAE on the system. We appreciated the interface with them in case conditions with Claudette deterioriated worse than expected.

Also, a reminder that the latest advisory information is available on our web-site at http://www.voipwx.net via the Main Menu under Atlantic Tropical Products. The advisory information is available from many other sources as well including the National Hurricane Center web site at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Barring a new system organizing over the Atlantic Tropic region, significant unexpected increase in Ana or unless Bill threatens a land area, the next tropical update will likely be issued towards the end of this week. The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will closely monitor the progress of Ana, Bill and any other new systems that organize. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net