Today 21 September 2010 the worldwide tropics and extra-tropical regions are populated by a veritable menagerie of tropical cyclones. Hurricane IGOR continues to move north near Newfoundland, Canada with sustained winds of 80+ mph, it would appear Igor is planning a visit to the Arctic regions to the west of Greenland in what might be a ‘first’ since records have been kept. In the mid-north Atlantic near the Azores the remnants of Tropical Storm JULIA continue to generate rain as the system moves toward the northeast. To the west of the Cape Verde Islands and moving north by northwest there is tropical storm LISA with sustained 45 mph winds, which is forecast to continue moving generally toward the northwest over the open waters of the Atlantic.
A lot closer to our neck-of-the-woods a huge tropical wave more than 1,100 miles long straddles over the Lesser Antilles as it moves westward into the eastern Caribbean. This system is generating copious rain from northern Venezuela to Hispaniola. Given its size and favorable atmospheric-ocean environment ahead, this system should be closely monitored by interests in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and beyond that in Florida and the Gulf. This tropical wave has been growing better organized and stronger during the day today.
To balance things out with all the ongoing activity in the larger Atlantic basin, there is Tropical Storm GEORGETTE in the eastern Pacific south of Baja California, tracking generally north toward La Paz. At the other extreme, in the western Pacific, in a region that has been quite active this season there is Tropical Storm MALAKAS tracking toward the northwest and projected to re-curb north and then toward the northeast over the open waters of the northwestern Pacific ocean.
Moving “in the sidelines” no fewer than eight tropical waves or cells of disturbed weather span from the west coast of equatorial Africa to the east coast and on to the shores of Indonesia in the Indian ocean; any of these tropical waves, given the right combination of factors and a favorable atmospheric environment, may have the capability for generating a tropical cyclone over the next couple of weeks. Certainly food for thought as the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season continues.
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