Season's first "subtropical" storm forms off S.C.
The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season is off to an early start. The National Hurricane Center today assigned the first name of the season - Andrea - to a "subtropical" storm than has been spinning up off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina in recent days. Here's an amazing photo shot at noon yesterday from space. Officially, the hurricane season does not begin until June 1.
"Sub-tropical" means that this storm was not born from the same combination of conditions that generate tropical storms - warm water and convection at its core. Nor is it sustained by the same mechanisms. It's just a regular low-pressure system, with a remarkably tropical look. Here's the satellite loop. Pretty cool. You can see that our clouds in Maryland today are actually the outer reaches of the storm's cloud system.
Because this storm's spin is generating winds and waves with the same impact on shore and shipping as a tropical storm, it wins itself the first name of the season. Peak sustained winds at running near 45 mph, with higher gusts. Here is the first bulletin on Sub-Tropical Storm Andrea. And, for the storm geeks among us, here is the forecasters' discussion. It does not suggest this storm will strengthen, or head out way.
At 11 a.m. today, the hurricane center posted a tropical storm watch along the coast from Altahama Sound, Ga., south to Flagler Beach, Fla. That means tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area sometime during the next 36 hours. Here's the watch area map. And here's a closer weather map view of the area most affected.
The storm's center at 11 a.m. was about 140 miles southeast of Savannah and 150 miles northeast of Daytona Beach, Fla. The storm's movement was toward the west at 3 mph, with a slow turn expected toward the southwest. The heaviest rains are expected to stay offshore for the next day or so. Although Florida and Georgia badly need the rain, they aren't expected to see much through tomorrow morning.
Just in case this early start to the season makes you nervous, here's the most recent seasonal forecast from the folks out at Colorado State University. They're expecting a busy season, though not one like 2005. The National Weather Service's storm forecast is due out later this month.
