A tad chilly

Pipeline capital of the world.  Some of the biggest tank farms I've ever seen too.  I've never worked in Saudi Arabia.

It's definitely tank farming country. You can see from the section lines that they cover several square miles.

Here's my hero Buzz out on the prowl a couple nights ago:

Yesterday the National Hurricane Center sent out the first advisory for subtropical storm Alex, which is expected to affect the Azores tonight and Friday. This is only the 4th subtropical storm ever observed in the Atlantic as early as January (since 1851). The most recent January subtropical storm was in 1978; the others were in 1938 and 1951.

Last year's first Atlantic storm (Ana) arose on May 7th. Only 0.5% of subtropical storms form before June 1.

The current storm track models forecast Alex to travel north up the center of the Atlantic.

As of 10:00 a.m. EST (Public Advisory #4 from the National Hurricane Center) Alex is now a hurricane, with sustained winds of 85 mph. Only 1 other Atlantic hurricane has been recorded in January, back in 1938. Alex is expected to hit the Azores tomorrow morning at about the same strength as it has now.

you are a wealth of information, cp (love this thread. not ThisThread, but this thread).

anyone see 60 minutes a couple weeks ago regarding the cargo ship lost in hurricane joaquin? the power of these storms never ceases to amaze me (don't mess with Mother Nature!).

here is the ship:

i believe the deck was four stories. the top floor was found a mile from the ship, and, it was sheared off the ship.

It's a scary thought thinking that the best place large ships can be for a major storm, aside from way the hell elsewhere, is out in the open ocean. Notice that whenever a hurricane is aiming at a naval base they fly the planes inland, but the ships head out to open water. They don't want to get caught anywhere near shallows or shore.

Stories like that give me shivers. I almost drowned in Lake Michigan when I was about ten years old. It scarred me to where I'm afraid of open water.

I can swim like a fish because I have some paddles (clown feet), but, if I can't see land, oh, boy...

that's why i stick with either the pool or the river next to my van.

Alex has dropped back down to 70mph and is expected to accelerate northward. The National Hurricane Center won't be issuing any more advisories for this storm system, but you can still get information on it in the regular North Atlantic High Seas Forecasts issued by the NWS Ocean Prediction Center at

http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/NFDHSFAT1.shtml

FYI, as a general rule in the open Atlantic Ocean the National Hurricane Center is responsible for forecasts for the region south of 31°N latitude, and the Ocean Prediction Center is responsible for forecasts north of 31°N .

ok, i know i'm half blind, but, wasn't the pic of alex yesterday (post 2841) more cylindrical, and almost centered in the atlantic?

Not sure what you're asking-- the image above was probability contours for projected future storm track, not a representation of the storm structure. But if you're wondering why the NHC stayed with Alex as far north as they did I think it was a combination of where Alex originated and also that it was zeroing in on the Azores rather than just milling around without any land effects. Or were you geting at something else?

what I meant is that it appears the pic has changed. i wondered if you had edited it. yesterday i remember the pic of the storm as an oval, and it was in the center of the atlantic, showing edges of both europe and north america.

(no way i'm going that batty)

Oh, yeah-- no, I didn't edit the pic, and yes, it did change. Note that it (at the moment) reads that it is projecting from 2 p.m. AST Friday-- today. I didn't put the photo in my post, I put in the link to the photo on the NHC website. As they replace that photo on the NHC site with new updates, the linked photo that appears in my post changes too as long as the chess.com page has been reloaded at some point by the browser.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/01/05/weather-service-forecasting-computers-to-become-10-times-more-powerful-in-2015/

  "By October this year, the capacity of the two National Weather Service (NWS) supercomputers will increase by nearly a factor of ten it said."

“By increasing our overall capacity, we’ll be able to process quadrillions of calculations per second that all feed into our forecasts and predictions,” said Louis Uccellini, director of the National Weather Service in a press release. “This boost in processing power is essential as we work to improve our numerical prediction models for more accurate and consistent forecasts required to build a Weather Ready Nation.”

_______________________________________

 I mis-read the date above.  Sorry, old news.   

It looks like an impressive show shaping up for later tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday on the east coast. The curent blizzard warning for D.C. calls for 24 inches of snow in the downtown area and 30 inches in the western suburbs, accompanied by wind gusts over 50 mph. 3000 flights have already been canceled for Friday and Saturday across the D.C. to NYC region. West Virginia may get .25" of icing.

Ugh.  I had to drive through D.C. in '12, I think, the day after a snowstorm.  I'll allow that they aren't set up for winter weather with readily available salt and properly maintained snowplows, but there's still no excuse for the stupidity displayed by many of the drivers there.

impressive what mother nature is capable of, but not "impressive" if one was planning on travelling there (which i was).

I guess in most cases it's better to be stuck at home than stuck on the road. You might end up having to share a room with someone like Del Griffith.

haha!!!