Thursday, October 23, 2014

Tropical Storm Ana Picks Up Strength

       At 11 am on Thursday, tropical storm Ana was reported to have maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph. Ana continues to get stronger as it is moving away from the most populated areas of the Hawaiian islands. Tropical storm Ana is triggered a tropical storm warning for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument from French Frigate Shoals to Lisianski, northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands. It's expected that the area will experience strong winds and very heavy rainfalls throughout Thursday morning.
       On Sunday, Ana slowed in its path and moved west, due to a ridge of high pressure in the north. Now, Ana is moving northwest. Ana will continue to move in this direction for the next day until it curves northeast later on in the week due to a trough. The effects of Ana have been minimal thus far. Over 10 inches of rain were reported in some areas of the islands. Experts believe Ana will continue to strengthen as vertical wind shear weakens, bringing Ana over warm waters. Ana will then move over cooler water temperatures and will weaken later in the week. It's possible that Ana will merge with a non-tropical low over the Pacific Ocean and bring heavier rainfall to the Pacific Northwest. 

For convenient purposes, experts have provided a recap of Tropical Storm Ana:

"Ana formed October 13 as a tropical storm about 955 miles east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii. Ana became a hurricane on October 17 when it moved into an area of favorable conditions (very warm water and a decrease in wind shear) in the central Pacific Ocean.
Ana made its closest approach to the Big Island of Hawaii when it was 155 miles southwest of Kailua-Kona at 5 a.m. EDT on October 18. On October 19, Ana passed within 90 miles of the south coast of Kauai.
Hurricane Ana was downgraded to a tropical storm on October 20 as it passed southwest of Hawaii, sideswiping the island chain with heavy rain and high surf.
Since 1950, only four hurricanes have tracked within 150 nautical miles of Honolulu. Hurricane Iniki (1992) and Hurricane Dot (1959) both made landfall on Kauai. Dot's center passed about 80 miles west-southwest of Honolulu as a Category 3 hurricane on August 6, 1959."

No Photo Available.
Link: http://www.wunderground.com/news/hurricane-ana-hawaii-pacific-20141017

No comments:

Post a Comment