Laura dying; tropics look quiet

Well, it's October, and we're into the final month of peak hurricane season. Things look pretty quiet right now, and I don't see anything on the horizon meriting concern. Subtropical Storm Laura is almost dead, done in by cold North Atlantic waters. Visible satellite images show very little heavy thunderstorm activity, and Laura is currently transitioning into an extratropical storm. The remains of Laura will probably bring 45 mph winds to the coast of the British Isles on Sunday.


Figure 1. Latest satellite image of Laura.

Elsewhere in the tropics
A trough of low pressure extends from the Western Caribbean northeastwards over Cuba and the Bahamas. Thunderstorm activity is relatively weak and scattered along this trough. None of the models predict development in the Western Caribbean along this trough over the coming week. Development off the east coast of Florida, near the northwestern Bahamas, is possible late this week, but any such storm would move northeastward out to sea.

Hurricane Ike portlight.org charity relief efforts
I've agreed to act as an advisor for the Hurricane Ike portlight.org charity relief efforts spearheaded by Patrap, Presslord, and StormJunkie. I'll be participating in a conference call with them this afternoon, and will write up a summary of the effort that I plan to post tomorrow.

I'll post an Atlantic hurricane outlook for the month of October in Thursday's post.

Jeff Masters