Tropical Atlantic quiet; Southern California fire event possible Friday
The remains of Hurricane Paloma continue to spin over the Caribbean waters just south of Cuba, but wind shear is a high 30 knots, and there is virtually no chance that Paloma will regenerate. Elsewhere in the tropical Atlantic, there are no threat areas to discuss, and none of our reliable models are predicting tropical storm formation over the next seven days. There is an extratropical low pressure system that is expected to separate from the jet stream in the middle Atlantic just south of the Azores Islands 5-7 days from now, and it is possible this low could gradually acquire some tropical characteristics and become a subtropical storm late next week as it wanders over the open Atlantic Ocean. Such a storm would only be a threat to shipping interests, and I am not expecting any more tropical storms this season that will threaten land areas. With wind shear expected to rise over the Caribbean later this week, and continue to remain at high levels until late November, it is likely that the Atlantic hurricane season of 2008 is finally over in the Caribbean.
Paloma clean-up continues
The recovery effort from Hurricane Paloma continues in the Cayman Islands and Cuba. Paloma roared through the Cayman Islands Friday night and Saturday morning as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds, brushing Grand Cayman Island, but pounding the "Sister Islands" to the northeast--Little Cayman and Cayman Brac--with its northern eyewall. The hardest-hit Cayman island was Cayman Brac, population 2,000. About half of the island's population is homeless, and 95% of the structures on the island are damaged and 30% missing their roofs. The Cayman Compass reports that electricity is still out to most of the island, though Internet and cell phone service have been restored. Damage was also very heavy on Little Cayman Island, which suffered damage to approximately 90% of its buildings.
In Cuba, leader Raul Castro said yesterday that Cuba had suffered at least $10 billion in damage from Hurricanes Ike, Gustav, and Paloma. Paloma was the least damaging of the three, accounting for $1.4 billion of the damage total. This year was the first time on record that three major hurricanes have hit Cuba.
Figure 1. Hurricane Paloma near maximum intensity at 1:35 pm EST November 8, 2008. At the time, Paloma was a Category 4 hurricane with 140-145 mph winds. Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory.
Southern California fire event possible this week
A moderate to strong Santa Ana wind event is shaping up for Southern California Friday and Saturday, as high pressure builds in to the north and east. The clockwise flow of air around this high pressure system will drive strong east-to-west offshore winds from the mountains to the ocean over the Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan areas. A Fire Weather Watch has already been posted for the mountain regions near Los Angeles, where wind gusts up to 60 mph are expected Friday and Saturday. Very windy, dry, and hot conditions are expected Friday and Saturday over Southern California, and the San Diego area will see near record temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above average.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 — Blog Index
+3.96%
WEEKLY RTN
+5.31%
DOW
286.42
-3.29%
8,407.54
Wall Street Shuffle
Hehe, did you think 5 yrs ago that you'd ever hear yourself saying that?
NASA Gives "Go" For Shuttle Launch on Friday!
Better set an alarm on my phone or I'll get busy and forget again.
31. IKE 5:10 PM GMT on November 12, 2008
Gosh this blog is s-l-o-w.......
Price of a barrel of crude oil is down to $56.50.
Get ready for gas under 2 bucks a gallon. Of course, the economy is tanking...no one has any $$$$$$$$$$$$$
Gas is under $2 in western Louisiana, and nearly 3 weeks ago I heard gas was $1.99 in some parts of TX.
It's actually freeing up a lot of my $$$$. lol
Same here. I'm in sales and it's helped quite a bit.
Here in Bon Air,Va (near Richmond ) Gas is around 1.87. We've been under 2.00 for a week or more. AND that was this morning - might be even lower on the way home.
My girlfriend has about a 45 min commute both ways, 5 days a week. Even in the little econobox it got pretty expensive...Now if we can just do something about diesel...I got to the point that I just stick the card in and don't even look!
It would be exciting to get under two dollars. Even at the current price its 1.45 per gallon cheaper than two months ago. Translates into 37.00 less per tank for my car.
Good that the storms didn't impact the oil fields more than they did this year.
The industry did a lot of work "beefing up" the platforms post Katrina. What worried me about IKE (energy-wise) was the potential loss of refinery capacity. That is where our real bottleneck has been in recent years. Fortunately no major damage.
Gas still at 2.17 here usually were are lower then the rest. Oh well at least its heading in the right direction.
Amazing how fast the prices goes up yet so slow on the way down.
...Amazing how fast the prices goes up yet so slow on the way down.
Noticed that huh? (grin) Yeah, I already had that conversation once today...Good to see ya BTW.
Gas is below $1.90 where I am. Bowling Green, Ohio.
ahh, but you're forgetting...the brokers make money either way...
Figured you knew that, but I get your point...Seems like they would at least keep up the pretense of sympathy for those who just paid a good commission for the privelege of losing their shirts.
welcome out of lurkdom, Bowling Green.
Wow, I was feeling really good about how much I saved on the last tankful and then you come along a blow it for me...(kidding)
have a nice one!
Hell I rember gas at 80 cents! Me and my buddies used to fill up for around 10 bucks. Being a teenager 10 bucks was a lot. Now that number gets blown by in a blink.
Just grinning thinking how fast the blog changes. A week ago fights were breaking out over talking about the markets and gas today nothing LOL
(Thought I might as well throw out a weather-related post.)
pretty nasty storm getting ready to go off. the cyclone over the plains will head to the coast and a coastal low will develope along its front. Looks like a good soaking rain for the next 4 days from the Great Lakes and Ohio Vally all the way to the coast and New England.
Hehe!
That's the cheapest I've ever seen gas
Being a teenager 10 bucks was a lot.
Yeah, Times have changed, Had a converation like this with young daughter...
Daughter:
"Dad, the jeans I want are only One hundred dollars!"
Father:
"Who ever told you that the words ONLY and HUNDRED DOLLARS have any business being in the same sentence!"
My wife said the other day, "Look how high oil and gas prices rose then right around election time prices stabalized then fell through the floor once the election started showing Obama ahead then winning."
Then she said, "Amazing what happens when an oil man leaves office."
not that I believe in the consperacy but is amazing the coincidence.
example:
Today airbags My Time fat uncle Joe in the front seat.
Today RPG's My Time Astroids
Today active restraint systems My Time Mom/Dads arm
LOL and to think we survived back then LOL
DOW
389.00
-4.47%
8,304.96
3.17
-5.34%
$56.16
For some reason I like Bonedog better tha IKE today! LOL
amazing aint it
BTW Gas here is almost US$5.00 a gallon! I know ridiculous they get away with daylight robbery on this island with both petrol and diesal prices. Our electricity runs off diesal and one month for two people is about US$ 300 w/out AC and US$500 with!!!
Jeez...that's terrible.
Congrats to WSOP winner Peter Eastgate. Picks up a cool 9 million for winning the World Series of Poker. Youngest winner ever...at 22.
DOW
420.78
-4.84%
8,273.18
...bombing out like a cat 4 cane.
Viewing: 51 - 101
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 — Blog Index