Weather! Hurricane Preparedness Week begins, and the rain threat continues

President Obama has declared this week to be National Hurricane Preparedness Week. It actually began Sunday, and ends this coming Saturday. Each day during the week, the National Weather Service office in Wakefield publishes a Public Information Statement discussing various topics related to tropical weather.

May 24, 2010; 11:03 AM • by Weather Dan

Happy Monday, everyone – if such a thing exists.

I want to start this morning by talking about the tropics. President Obama has declared this week to be National Hurricane Preparedness Week. It actually began Sunday, and ends this coming Saturday. Each day during the week, the National Weather Service office in Wakefield publishes a Public Information Statement discussing various topics related to tropical weather. I’ll post those here as I collect them.
Monday’s topic: Seasonal preparation

Additionally, a sales tax holiday for hurricane and emergency preparedness equipment begins tomorrow. This includes equipment like alkaline batteries, flashlights, NOAA all-hazards radios, duct tape, and many other materials and supplies. Click the banner above for additional information.

I’m also watching the first area of tropical interest for the year. An area of disturbed weather, designated Invest 90L, between Bermuda and the Bahamas has been trying to become organized for the last few days now, and the National Hurricane Center began taking an interest in the system yesterday, giving it a 30% chance for development into a non-tropical system. There are a number of factors working against this system; while it may not become Subtropical Storm Alex, forecast models to have the system moving westward, offshore of the Outer Banks by midweek.

A small area of low pressure located near the South Carolina coast is driving the easterly winds making for such a dreary Monday morning for us. Onshore flow is going to bring the chance of rain to us yet again this afternoon, with highs in the upper 70s. This includes the chance for some afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Clouds stick around overnight, as temperatures fall to near 60.

We’ll see some improvement for Tuesday, as some of the clouds thin out and we see temperatures more near 80 degrees. The threat of rain diminishes completely, meaning we’re finally going to see a dry day with partly cloudy skies. Tuesday night again fall just on the warm side of 60 degrees.

The subtropical disturbance I mentioned earlier will play a big part in exactly what happens with our weather beyond Tuesday. I’ll be keeping an eye on development and posting updates on Twitter, and I’ll have a full update Wednesday morning.l

May 24, 2010 11:03 AM 0