PDC Updates | July 23, 2010
Tropical Storm Bonnie
Strengthens, Approaches Oil Spill and Coast
Former Tropical Depression 03 is now Tropical Storm Bonnie, but
it is not expected to achieve hurricane strength before making landfall.
Former
Tropical Depression 03 is now Tropical Storm Bonnie, but it is not expected to
achieve hurricane strength before making landfall.
July 23, 2010 – 9:12 a.m. HST (19:12
UTC): Yesterday’s tropical depression (TD 03) quickly spun-up into a
tropical storm named Bonnie. According to the latest National Hurricane
Center’s track map, it is moving over southern Florida, to the south of Miami
and into the Gulf of Mexico at this time. Winds were locally strong and gusty
with Bonnie, although in a fairly small area. Rainfall from this storm, at
least thus far, has been fairly minimal, and again, in a small area. This radar image of south Florida showed that there
was a minimum of flooding, with just a few heavy showers in the area Friday, at
mid-afternoon EST.
The forward motion of the storm took on some added (and unexpected)
speed, moving rapidly out of the Caribbean, making a landfall over Florida in
the process. Bonnie has been affected by interaction with the southern Florida
landmass, and also by the shearing effect of the upper level winds in the area,
which have weakened the storm somewhat.
The expectation remains that Bonnie will stay below hurricane
force, and will begin moving over the oil spill area Saturday morning. The
forecast calls for Bonnie to make landfall somewhere along the coast from New
Orleans across Mississippi and Alabama to the Florida panhandle at some time
early Sunday morning. There will be a relatively small storm surge (3+ feet),
along with coastal surf, which will push whatever oil is in the area a distance
inland. Here’s a surface oil forecast from NOAA. There remain
uncertainties in forecasts of the track and intensity, so there may be changes
up ahead.
- Follow Tropical Storm
Bonnie or any active hazard anywhere in the world using PDC Atlas.
- Have an iPad or iPhone?
Download PDC’s free Disaster Alert app at iTunes or AppShopper.
- Learn more about
hurricanes-typhoons-tropical cyclones on PDC’s website.
- Here is the latest NHC graphical track map.
- This is what the computer models are showing from the
Florida State University.
- Here is a satellite picture of this tropical
cyclone moving into the Gulf of Mexico.
- This is a looping satellite image of this area.
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