Tropical Weather Sites For Weather Junkies
By SamChapman | July 22, 2010
Even though we are pretty far from the coast, tropical weather systems can have a big impact on the Austin area. A system moving inland and over our area can bring high wind, tornadoes and can drop a tremendous amount of rain. So for those of us who are weather junkies and who don’t want wait for the Weather Channel’s hourly tropical forecast, where can we go for information?
One site is the Atlantic and Caribbean Tropical Satellite Imagery site. The site has various sections of the Atlantic and Gulf that you can click on and then look at visible, shortwave or water vapor images and loops. You can also go to the National Hurricane Center’s Latest Satellite Imagery and get much of the same. The NOAA Geostationary Satellite Server is another good site with a lot of weather related links.
A site that I just discovered that I like a lot is Stormpulse. Stormpulse puts together data from the National Hurricane Center, NASA and other sources. It shows tropical system development, if there is anything active, and gives a prediction for further development and strengthening of tropical systems. Stormpulse also has buttons you can click to see cloud cover, radar (if the system is close enough to a radar site), computer model possible tracks and more.
Why post this information now? We dodged a bullet with Alex and the next tropical depression that went into northern Mexico. We will be a bit cooler today thanks to cloud cover from a tropical wave. The biggest reason is tropical depression #3 that is just north of the eastern tip of Cuba. Some forecast models have it making landfall in eastern Texas as early as Sunday.
Author Bio: Sam Chapman is an Austin REALTOR and a bit of a weather junkie who has lived in the Austin area since 1987.
