Sunday, September 11, 2011

Remembering Sept 11 (9/11)

September 11, 2001 was one of the darkest days in American history. It has been exactly ten (10) years since that fateful day. This year (and every year) is a good time to remember those who lost their lives because of a hostile and down-right cowardly act of terrorism inflicted on the United States by the Al Qaeda / Taliban groups.



Who can forget the heroes that fateful day? To skip to more details on September 11, 2001 and many other subjects about the US, click the link that is provided below.

http://www.sky-chaser.com/america.htm

US Tropical "Protection"? (9/7)

The tropics are very busy as of September 7 ... However, little or no threats exist for the US anytime soon! As of September 7-9, hurricane Katia and tropical storm Maria are churning in the open tropical Atlantic, and NOT expected to affect any land. Tropical storm Nate has formed in the Bay of Campeche, and expected to move into Mainland Mexico later this week. As I mentioned, VERY busy Atlantic tropics, but no threat to the USA at this time.



The graphic above shows the general weather pattern during the week of September 7, 2011. Note (in the graphic above) that despite quite a bit of activity in the Atlantic, the combination of a persistent trough off the US East coast as well as weak high-pressure ridging in the southern Gulf of Mexico, the southeastern and eastern US / northern Gulf regions are sort of in a "quiet zone" (blue area) and nestled in between regions of above-normal risk for tropical cyclones (red areas).

Hurricane Irene (8/28)

My interception and hurricane chase for hurricane "Irene" was on August 26-28 in North Carolina after a coastal observation of its effects in South Florida on the 25th.



Hurricane Irene caused over 10 billion dollars in damages and at least 55 deaths, especially in the mid-atlantic region of the United States. A full chase log and write-up is completed and has been posted in the STORM CHASING section of my web site.

You can go right to the link for the chase log by clicking the link that is provided below.

http://www.sky-chaser.com/irene11.htm

South FL Tornado (8/2)

A small tornado in its late stages was caught on camera late in the afternoon of August 2, 2011 from a 5-10 mile distance. In the image below, the distinct funnel stretched along the gust front can be seen just before the tornado dissipated.



Damage was to some homes (roof torn off) with winds near 90 MPH (EF-1). The view is to the north from near Fort Lauderdale Airport as the storm was weakening and just before the tornado lifted.