Authors:
Dennis O’Donnell
Business Meteorologist
Rich Woolley
VP, Operations
Over the past weekend 3 named systems developed in the tropical Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The first named storm, Tropical Depression Ana, is currently positioned southeast of Puerto Rico and is forecast to move northwest in the coming days and weaken as it passes over Haiti and the Dominican Republic. After passing over the islands it is possible that Ana will have weakened so much that it will be nothing more than a weak area of low pressure. The remnants of Ana will move north-northwest along the west coast of Florida bringing moderately gusty winds and heavier showers. Ana should bring little to no impact to the Gulf of Mexico Oil producing region.
Tropical Storm Claudette (now downgraded to a depression) which was a named storm for a whole 12-18 hours made landfall in the Florida Panhandle early this morning. Moderately heavy showers and less than tropical storm force wind gusts were observed. Remnants of Claudette will bring gusty winds and rains to the Southeastern US over the next 2-3 days before moving to the east.
The most powerful system is Hurricane Bill which is located well out in the Atlantic. Conditions are prime for Bill to continue strengthening and could eventually become the first major hurricane of the season. Fortunately, current guidance curves the system to the north-northwest and eventually out to sea. Those with vacation plans in Bermuda should watch the storm closely as it will be in the area of the island this coming weekend. There is a lot of time for the forecast to change so those with interests in the Eastern US should continue to monitor this storm closely. In the longer term, the remnant of Bill could dump heavy rains and bring strong winds to the British Isles sometime next week.
We are continuing to monitor the tropics and will update as conditions change.
