Tue.'s sun worked on the tropical airmass to produce widespread heavy rain & t'storms in the afternoon & evening. Rainfall rates were 1-2"+/hour. Similar situation for Wed. It still looks like we get into a drier pattern by the holiday weekend with seasonably hot afternoon temps.
A whole host of cloud photos from Tue.'s local storms but perhaps one of the best is a classic photo of pileus clouds as t'storms approached Middleburg in the late afternoon. No name was sent with the pic posted from our First Alert Weather APP. A pileus cloud is caused by air that is pushed up & over the towering cumulus or -- in this case -- cumulonimbus cloud creating what looks like a cap (or reflection/shadow) over the parent cloud. Click here for an explanation from "Australian Geographic".
Other pic's from Tue.: Rhianna, S'side of Jax....Terry Iverson, Baker Co....Josue Hernandez, Jacksonville.
"Isaac" made a double landfall. One Tue. evening a little before 8pm on some small islands south of New Orleans then a 2nd one Wed. morning southwest of New Orleans. The orientation of the winds + storm surge + heavy rain could really test the new levee system. Some places in Louisiana & Mississippi are likely to get 1-2 feet of rain!
Calling all "weather nerds"! Read this discussion of the weather balloon launch from the New Orleans N.W.S. Tue. evening:
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
751 PM CDT TUE AUG 28 2012
.SOUNDING DISCUSSION...
NO PROBLEMS WITH THIS EVENINGS 00Z FLIGHT. USED A DE-REALER AND ADDITIONAL HYDROGEN DUE TO STRONG NORTH-NORTHEASTERLY WINDS WITH THE APPROACH OF HURRICANE ISAAC. A LIGHT SHOWER AND OVERCAST SKIES
WERE OBSERVED AT RELEASE. MEAN LOW LEVEL WINDS FROM THE SURFACE THROUGH 5K FEET ARE FROM THE NORTHEAST AT 55KTS. FROM 5K TO 10K FEET THE WINDS VEER SOME AND ARE FROM THE EAST-NORTHEAST AT
60KTS. NORTHEASTERLY WINDS REMAIN THROUGH NEARLY 46K FEET. STORM MOTION IS TO THE WEST AT 41KTS. THE COLUMN IS TROPICALLY SATURATED OR NEARLY SATURATED FROM JUST ABOVE THE SURFACE THROUGH 20K FEET
OR NEAR 470MB. THE PW VALUE WAS AT 2.79 INCHES.
NOAA's National Ocean Service's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) has activated its "Quick-Look" product (very handy!) for tropical storm ISAAC to the Gulf Coast - click here.
The CO-OPS Storm QuickLook product provides a synopsis of near real-time oceanographic and meteorological observations at locations affected by a tropical cyclone. It is initiated when an NWS storm center issues a tropical storm warning for the U.S. or its island possessions, and is updated four times per day (about one hour after standard NWS public advisories are issued) unless special circumstances, such as storm landfall, dictate otherwise. The Storm QuickLook is displayed on CO-OPS web pages and is also linked through NOAAWatch, the NOAA All-Hazard Monitor. Post-storm reports are created (depending on a storm's strength and effects on water levels) using verified data and provide an overview of the storm water level impacts. Technical reports also supply a more detailed analysis of storm-induced water levels and historical storm comparisons.
Our Action News reporter, Kristen Sell sent the photo below from Gulf Shores, Al.
"Isaac" did produce a high end EF-0 tornado that damaged a number of buildings in Vero Beach, Fl. Mon. Click here for the storm survey from the Melbourne N.W.S.
Yet another tropical storm - "Kirk" has developed in the Central Atlantic but will stay over the open ocean while "Leslie" is probably in the offing as we go through the week in the Atlantic. Click here to go to "Talking the Tropics With Mike".
