Weather! More hot and dry weather in store; tracking Earl

Until Earl approaches the coast, this week is shaping up to be just one thing — hot and dry. Monday will be a continuation of what we saw this weekend, as a strong area of high pressure settles over the southeast.

August 30, 2010; 7:36 AM • by Weather Dan

Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall on the Gulf Coast. Meteorologist Eric Law from WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi put together a great video showing the entire history of Katrina from a satellite perspective. It’s worth a watch.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUT35tS909s[/youtube]

Hurricane Danielle is moving out to sea in the north Atlantic, but not before bringing heavy surf and strong rip currents to most of the Atlantic coast. Lifesaving crews performed over 250 rescues on the beaches near Ocean City, Maryland, and another 100 along Virginia Beach.

Hurricane Earl has reached the northern Leeward Islands, and is expected to become a major hurricane, with winds of Category 3 strength or greater, by Tuesday.

The hatched area in the image represents the 4 and 5 day “cone of uncertainty,” and it’s exactly that. While there’s still some confidence that the center of the hurricane will fall somewhere in that area, the National Hurricane Center’s average forecast track error for day 5 is 300 miles.

That’s a pretty big swath of ocean.

It’s still hard to say exactly where Earl is going to go — 5 days out is a long time when talking about hurricanes. That being said, there’s a good chance that Earl will stay out to sea, and only brush the Atlantic coast, but that is not a guarantee. If you’ve got interests along the coast, it’s important to monitor Earl now and make sure you have a plan in place to protect life and property, if necessary.

National Hurricane Center products for Earl

Hurricane preparedness information from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Until Earl approaches the coast, this week is shaping up to be just one thing — hot and dry. Monday will be a continuation of what we saw this weekend, as a strong area of high pressure settles over the southeast. A Code Orange air quality alert is in effect from 9am to midnight, meaning that concentrations of ozone near ground level are high enough to impact those with respiratory sensitivities, especially children, the elderly, and those with heart and/or lung problems. Plan on high temperatures to reach the mid 90s under mostly sunny skies, as lows drop into the mid 60s overnight.

Tuesday looks to be more of the same. Highs again will climb into the mid 90s, with mostly clear skies. Overnight lows again will drop into the mid 60s at night. Quiet otherwise.

By Wednesday, we should have a better idea of exactly where Earl is heading and what impacts we can expect locally. I’ll have a full update then.

August 30, 2010 7:36 AM 0