The NEXT Big Storm? Hanna Now Looks Like Another Gulf of Mexico Storm Due to a Developing High

NASA tells ANN that over the last couple of days, the forecast track of Tropical Storm Hanna has changed. Several days ago, the forecast models were taking her on a possible track toward Florida, now, forecast models agree that she'll be taking a southeast track toward Cuba.

An intensifying subtropical high pressure system is the reason for Hanna's change in track. It's located to the north-northwest of Hanna, and because High pressure systems have a clockwise wind flow, it will steer Hanna downward on a west-southwest track from heading to an almost a 3 o'clock position (due west of where it is now) to a 6 o'clock position (southward).

Hanna's Potential Effect

In the short term, The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos are under the gun for Tropical Storm conditions, but the southeastern U.S. coast is going to deal with dangerous rip currents over the next couple of days. Beachgoers in all of these areas should take serious precautions.

CloudSat Looks at Hanna Sliced in Half

NASA's CloudSat satellite's Cloud Profiling Radar captured a sideways look across Hanna on Aug. 29 at 6:15 UTC (2:15 a.m. EDT). For comparison, the top image is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-12) around the same time.

The red line through the GOES satellite image shows the vertical cross section of radar, basically what Fay's clouds looked like sideways. The colors indicate the intensity of the reflected radar energy. The top of Fay's clouds are over 14 kilometers (8.5 miles) high.

The blue areas along the top of the clouds indicate cloud ice, while the wavy blue lines on the bottom center of the image indicate intense rainfall. Notice that the solid line along the bottom of the panel, which is the ground, disappears in this area of intense precipitation. It is likely that in the area the precipitation rate exceeds 30mm/hr (1.18 inches/hour) based on previous studies.

Hanna's Position as of Saturday, August 30, 2008

Tropical storm watches have been issued for portions of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. At 11 a.m. EDT, the government of the Bahamas has issued a tropical storm watch for the southeastern Bahamas.

At 11:00 a.m. EDT Hanna's center was near latitude 21.9 north and longitude 66.4 west or about 240 miles north of San Juan, Puerto Rico and about 305 miles east of Grand Turk Island. Hanna has slowed from 12 to 8 mph westward and will gradually turn west-northwest before heading back in a westerly direction on Aug. 31.

Hanna's maximum sustained winds remain near 50 mph with higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast today but Hanna could be near hurricane strength on Sunday. Estimated minimum central pressure has dropped from1001 to 1000 millibars, which is a slight indication of strengthening. The Leeward Islands could receive between 1 and 2 inches of rainfall as Hanna passes by.

FMI: www.nasa.gov, www.noaa.gov