2024 Tropical Weather Thread

Correct. It's a gyre in which models are starting development. All indications are that this development will have a massive wind field. This means widespread impacts are likely even if it is a weak system. The significance of those impacts will vary greatly by exact track and strength which is impossible to know right now. Again, all of this is just a signal even if that signal is very pronounced it still does not mean it is certain to happen.

This is what I struggle with all the time and most forecasters that are more than hype.

It's like hey, this is likely to impact you in 8-12 days. It's also likely that whatever solution being presented today is wrong. Just mentioning it sets off anxiety for many. Not mentioning it leads people into planning without knowing all the information.

My dad calls me today in panic not really understanding the difference between a model 11 days out and radar. His friend on facebook said a cat 5 was coming into the gulf and posted a 928mb giant in the central gulf. People are stupid and either they do not care how it impacts others, they are naive to the way it impacts others or a combination of both.

It's like a golfer than screams "FORE" even though the ball is probably not going to hit the person it is flying towards. If you don't give them a heads up you are an butt crevasse. If you do scream it then you make someone scramble for likely no reason. The only difference here is this happens over and over again for 10 days straight with hurricane forecasts.


What I look for is run to run consistency and multiple models showing at least a similar upper air pattern. Then it's like "hey, this is worth monitoring". I don't put social media posts out there with this stuff because there is so much noise that I don't want to add to it. However, I do feel like I can contribute to SR and add in these long range updates when I start getting confident that there will at least be a storm that could impact land.

Once the storm gets going, I just try to remind everyone to ignore category number and the center line because impacts can extend well away from the center and the center line is rarely what gets hit. If this forms and is the size the models are currently indicating this is going to be more true than ever. A hurricane of that size and intensity on the GFS would flood Tampa even if the landfall is in Panama City. So everyone should be monitoring this and nobody should be panicked and nothing should be taken off the table.

I always appreciate the heads up and the restraint you show. As much as this stuff creates anxiety, we do need to know about the possibilities because planning even the little things like making sure you have meds, pet meds, pet food, etc. for evacuation or batteries and water to hunker down takes time. I've honestly been a bit lax in hurricane prep this year because the season had been so quiet, and Louisiana had been so quite for two years, so it's good to get a wakeup call every now and then.

But you are right that it does cause panic in some. I never mention these long range projections to my wife or daughter because it's only going to make them as anxious as me and as long as one person is looking at it and planning, there is no point in making them anxious over something that likely isn't going to happen or if it does will happen in 10 days or so.