Weather Check

The rainy season is approaching. We have had a few freak afternoon rains the past two weeks blasting us with just a taste of the upcoming tropical rains. The storms have rolled in quickly, turning a bright blue sky into blackish gray clouds in minutes, followed by tornado like winds and a heavy sideways downpour. The patio has already flooded a few times, but the true gauge that this is just a glimpse into the near future is there have been no lake effects in the street. The afternoon rains often flood 75th Steet in front of my house. There are little waves that wash into the driveway. A small row boat would be practical for negotiating Mérida´s numerous flooded streets.

Our first tropical wave is passing over the Yucatán Peninsula as I write this. It had the potential to intensify as it crossed the land and threatened to form into a tropical storm when it entered the Gulf of México west of us. Conditions have changed. Our forecast of 80% chance of rain yesterday fizzled into a few passing black clouds, distant thunder, some high humidity, and a slight drop in temperature. But we had no rain. Current conditions are such that we could see light fluffy clouds pass over all day, or they could become heavy cumulo-nimbus reaching far up into the sky and we could find ourselves in another major downpour. Or not.

Hurricane season has begun. The seas around the Caribbean and Gulf of México are quite warm, and there is a lot of unstable air aloft. I am a weather watcher and thought I would share with you my favorite weather sites. Many of them are formattable to provide the forecast in your area of México, if you are not in Mérida.

For the regional map from Weatehr Underground, go to: http://www.wunderground.com/global/Region/CA/IRSatellite.html

For the specific Mérida forecast and details, go to:
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/76644.html

Direct link to the National Hurricane Center from the National Weather Service
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml

My favorite satellite pics, through the University of Hawaii meteorology site. I like to see the bigger pictures and these are great satellites.
http://weather.hawaii.edu/satellite/index.cgi?thumbs=on&satgroup=tropatl&banner=uhmet



And last this is Hurricane 2008! (it probably says 2009 by now) from Accuweather.
http://hurricane.accuweather.com/hurricane/satellite.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&basin=atlantic&anim=1

Ok, one last thing. The curent list of hurricane names for the season.


Atlantic names 2009

Ana
Bill
Claudette
Danny
Erika
Fred
Grace
Henri
Ida
Joaquin
Kate
Larry
Mindy
Nicholas
Odette
Peter
Rose
Sam
Teresa
Victor
Wanda

Pacific names 09
Andres
Blanca
Carlos
Dolores
Enrique
Felicia
Guillermo
Hilda
Ignacio
Jimena
Kevin
Linda
Marty
Nora
Olaf
Patricia
Rick
Sandra
Terry
Vivian
Waldo
Xina
York
Zelda