Hurricane spawning machine in high gear

Atlantic tropical satellite image courtesy of The Weather Channel

The above image is a snapshot of the Atlantic Tropical Satellite for August 28, 2010. The second half of August is when tropical activity increases substantially in the Atlantic basin reaching peak activity in the beginning of September.

As the graphic shows, activity is in high gear. Hurricane Danielle is a now a Category 2 storm and is slowly weakening as she moves towards the north. Tropical Storm Earl is following behind. Earl now has sustained winds of 65 MPH and moving westward. Further development is likely and Earl is expected to reach hurricane status in the next few days. Earl's track is more to the west than Danielle's was and Earl is expected to skirt along the Windward Islands and have a greater impact on Bermuda.

Not far behind Earl is a tropical wave that the NHC has projected has an 80% of developing into a tropical depression in the next 24 hours and then to become Tropical Storm Fiona. This storm has the potential of affecting the US east coast or maybe even the Gulf depending on the steering currents. Right now Fiona-to-be is expected to turn north in the Caribbean but this is at least a week away and a lot can happen by then.

Finally, if you look at the Satellite image, a new tropical wave is forming and just now moving off the coast of Africa. The next couple of days will tell if this develops into anything. The fact that there are so many systems so close together and that the systems are developing every few days shows that the activity is high. I suspect that September will be a rough ride.