Tropical Season Continues
The tropical storm season that has left fields and pasture land soggy throughout the southeast this year is far from over.
A dry period has helped farmers get out for harvest but Brad Rippey, USDA meteorologist says there’s some wet weather coming.
Rippey: “ We are far from done with this Atlantic hurricane season. We still have almost a month and a half to go before the end of the season on November 30th. As we get late into the season we are less likely to see those long-track hurricanes that emerge from the African coast take 7 to 10 days to make their way across the Atlantic basin before curving out to sea or finally hitting some landmass. What sometimes happens is tropical cyclones form on the tail of cold fronts. The cold fronts cross the U.S., they drop down into the tropics, a little spin develops and tropical cyclones, tropical storms, hurricanes develop on the tail of those old cold fronts. I don’t think we’re done with this season. We’ve had 20 named storms. We’re likely to have a least a few more before we finally wind down this season.”
NOAA’s 3-month outlook shows that they expect the climate pattern over the winter to be aligned with the building La Nina. That typically means the southern US is warmer and drier than usual as the storm track associated with the subtropical jet is pushed north.
Because of the dry and warm conditions, NOAA is expecting drought to develop in the Florida peninsula. Drought is expected to extend south into Georgia’s coastal plain where conditions are already dry.
