Welcome, InstaPundit readers! I apologize for the relative dearth of updates on today’s tropical developments, at least as compared to my hyperactive weatherblogging of years past. Alas, “free time” isn’t a terribly viable concept when you have a 19-month-old and a 1-month-old. 🙂 Indeed, I’m only able to post this update because the previously crying 1-month-old has finally fallen asleep… Read more »
[UPDATE, 11:00 PM MDT: Welcome, InstaPundit readers! I have (finally) posted a new update, covering both Ana and Bill.] Mark it down: on August 15, two-and-a-half months into the Atlantic hurricane season, we finally have our first named storm. Tropical Storm Ana formed overnight. It was our original “proto-Ana,” the one further west, that ultimately won the “race” and earned… Read more »
Tropical Depression Two, our erstwhile “proto-Ana,” is dead (or at least dormant; regeneration remains possible), and Tropical Depression Three — the new “proto-Ana” hotness — has yet to be born. For now, Three-to-Be is just “Invest 90L,” a mere tropical wave. But the National Hurricane Center thinks that will change soon: SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS GRADUALLY BECOMING BETTER ORGANIZED… Read more »
Tropical Depression Two has weakened, and may never become Tropical Storm Ana after all. As Dr. Jeff Masters mentioned yesterday, “the dry, Saharan air that surrounds the storm, combined with moderately high levels of wind shear, are interfering with the storm’s organization.” Alan Sullivan writes this morning that TD2 “has no upper support, and it may weaken to a remnant… Read more »
I didn’t end up watching the Perseid meteor shower last night — I don’t need any extra sleep deprivation when I’ve got a 1-month-old at home, thank you very much — but SpaceWeather.com says “anecdotal evidence is mounting” that the predicted “uptick” in meteor rates early this morning, around 0800 UT (2:00 AM MDT), did indeed happen. If so, those… Read more »
As I mentioned last week, the Perseid Meteor Shower is due to peak tonight and tomorrow morning, with a possible hour-long burst of ~200 meteors per hour between 2:00 AM and 3:00 AM Mountain Time (1-2am PDT, 4-5am EDT). Otherwise, “dozens of meteors per hour” are likely throughout the night, though the gibbous Moon will overwhelm the dimmer ones. Aside… Read more »
After nearly 2 1/2 months of El Niño-induced calm in the Atlantic tropics, things are finally heating up. Tropical Depression Two has formed off the Cape Verde islands, and is likely to become Tropical Storm Ana over the next couple of days. This would be the latest formation date for the Atlantic basin’s “A” storm since… well, since 1992, when… Read more »
SpaceWeather.com has the scoop on a possible Perseid outburst next Wednesday morning, in the wee hours: This year’s Perseid meteor shower could be even better than usual. “A filament of comet dust has drifted across Earth’s path and when Earth passes through it, sometime between 0800 and 0900 UT (1 – 2 am PDT) on August 12th, the Perseid meteor… Read more »
Here’s a photo I took yesterday of crepuscular rays over Denver, shortly before sunrise: And, later in the day, a pair of video screen-grabs (a split second apart) of a single lightning bolt striking two spots south of downtown: It has been an exceptionally stormy summer so far in Denver, for which I blame El Niño, global warming, Canada, and… Read more »
Via Flickr, here’s a shot of Wednesday’s total solar eclipse as seen from Bayohara, India: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ptwo/ / CC BY 2.0) More photos can be found at SpaceWeather.com. And here’s a video of the Moon’s shadow sweeping across Asia, as seen via satellite. UPDATE: Still more photos via the Boston Globe‘s always excellent The Big Picture photoblog.