Erin Weakens As She brushes East Coast, More Tropical Waves Coming, Invest 99 L Newest

Hurricane Erin has made the turn to the north and will brush the East coast with high surf & 40-50 mph winds.  Unless something goofy happens, Erin's main impacts will not affect any land areas.  The latest NHC 4 pm advisory has her winds down to 105 mph (Cat. 2), but she could briefly increase some overnight before weakening again on Wednesday.

One couldn't ask for a more perfect track that keeps the hurricane-force winds away from land.

The bottom arrow points out the center of Erin, which has not had an eye reappear today.  It still has its inner core, so some strengthening is possible.  So we look out to see if there is something else to follow/track. NHC has 2 hatched areas way out in the Atlantic.

The farthest one has been designated INVEST 99 L, but it is dealing with more dust pouring off of Africa.  The white arrow on the left is Hurricane Erin, which is outside the dust layer.  Computer models on 99 L take it on a track farther to the south, but they don't develop it.

The middle graphic is the surface map for the Atlantic that has the center of the Atlantic Ridge way out over the eastern Atlantic with Erin rotating around the nose of the ridge to the west.  That pattern appears to be locked in place for the next 10-14 days, meaning any storms that might form will likely make the turn to the north away from the Caribbean & Gulf.

In fact, the Gulf remains mostly clear with some clusters of storms over land. During this lull in activity, I'll be going over the options we have in case we have a tropical threat during the coming weeks.  However, you can only get that information/discussion if you subscribe to my new podcast.

It airs between 6-8 PM each evening and supplements my free Facebook post.  The cost is only $2/month or one Powerball ticket a month.  Give it a try.

We've seen a couple of storm clusters develop during daytime heating, bringing some relief to a lucky few.  Look at Hammond with nearby storms!

The local NWS office did mention a weak front might reach us early next week.  NO, it won't bring cooler air, but it could lower humidity.  Hang in there, Gang.  Almost done with the worst of our summer's heat.  Stay tuned!