Tropical Storm Don — disintegrates on landfall

Yet another bit of evidence that hurricanes are getting stronger, and more frequent. And just in case you don’t think that 40mph is terrifying, go outside and try to throw a loaf of bread* at 40mph. That’s right: Katrina II is coming for you.
*QED

I sure hope the folks up around Amarillo get some rain. That place was looking pretty bad when we went through a few weeks ago. Some of the cattle on the range looked like skin and bone.

They called it a cyclone……….
…..because cyclone sounds so much scarier than squall line……………
( I know, technically they are correct, it’s all still BS anyway)

Eh….I needed new wiper blades for the car anyway.

Tom T says:
July 28, 2011 at 5:09 pm
Stark: Yeah global warming has made 40 mph a lot faster than it was as recently as the 1970s if this increase in the speed of 40 mph continue unabated then by the year 2100 40 mph will be really fast.

I believe it is call ‘inflation’. Weather and climate inflation is present all around us. Just look at the temperature record over time (after it has been corrected by UAE/CRU).

The latest recon has the central pressure dropping 10 millibars in the last couple of hours.
Rapid intensification can be a result of relaxed shear, unstable (humid) air or increased ocean heat content. Whether or not Don makes it to a hurricane, any TC should be monitored as even Katrina was just a tropical storm and a cat 1 when it first crossed Florida before ramping up in the Gulf.

Texas, and most of the southeast, need some gentle tropical storms to dump water.

^ had it in my forecast for today or tomorrow for 42 months now, still not surprised they named it already.

Rain to southern Texas, my friends there will be pleased.

John Marshall says:
July 29, 2011 at 2:02 am
“Rain to southern Texas, my friends there will be pleased.”
Yes! I was going to comment that Don is GOOD! It’s bringing rain where it’s desperately needed in Texas.

Crosspatch, I live around Amarillo and we have a blazing 30% chance tonight and 30% chance tomorrow of something damp happening. Apparently a weak cold front has diverted Don into Mexico and none of the moisture is forecast to wrap up this far. Thpppppth! But at least someone will benefit. It is so dry some ranchers are spraying their catfish for ticks and I’ve seen bushes following the dogs around!

So far, the only thing we’ve received from this storm was increased humidity. Great, now we’re hot and sticky…..

Hope this drought is not a primer for the years ahead. We have a long way to go in this windy solar cycle. Volcanic activity now is almost a déjà vu of the dust bowl ’30s. The years leading into and during the worst of it were erratic to the extremes from what I’ve found about what people described.
But of course the next dust bowl is the fault of humankind, right?

every time they turn on the desk fan they call it a name of a hurricane

Was pointing out on WeatherBell that this would die fast, much like storms that hit the middle east from the southeast do. In fact was making sure that readers knew this was no more than a “dust settler) for most of Texas. In retrospect, it was fighting so much dry air that it did well to even maintain itself. Another factor, the tstorms northeast of it in the Houston area, and the elongation of the convection was competing with the storm itself. I thought because it was small and coming in at the ideal angle for tightening to landfall ( 90 degrees) it could feedback enough to form a stronger core on Thursday, and was even thinking that was happening when pressures fell to 996, but this situation is one that means that with the maturation of the summer pattern similar to 54 and 55, where a couple of weaker storms showed up early in the western gulf ( 54 Alice late in June was a minimal hurricane, Brenda a tropical storm) or 99 when one renegade storm showed up and got strong ( Brett) the place to watch for more intense storms is further east. Emily to be I think will demonstrate that the atlantic between 60 west and the US coast , whether it can get back to the states or not, or the Caribbean east of 85 west, will be the place for the most intensity this year. While we cant close the gulf certainly it think the mean trough winds up over the eastern or central US. Looking at the blend of maps of August/Sep 1954/1955 and yes 2008 even though action did get further west, matches nicely the Euro seasonal forecast for pressures and precip in Aug-Oct.
note: contrast this with Erin of 2007 which was still a formidable system at OKC or Dean of 1995 which was as strong pressure wise at Lubbock as it was Galveston, or Hermine last year with its strongest tropical storm winds on record in the last 40 years at San Antonio, and you can see where a pattern is saying look out, and where it is saying look away

Things are bad in Texas, and Don turned out to be a major disappointment. We’re praying for a series of moderate tropical storms. Maybe one next week?

Don’t mess with Texas.
I was keeping an eye on the radar as it moved ashore, and in less than 3 hours the entire storm desintegrated as it hit the massively hot, dry air mass that has been entrenched over the state. Never before have I seen a storm just evaporate before my eyes!
Here in Dallas we’ve been over 100 for 28 days straight. That’s a hot one, even for us. Of course, we won’t come close to the 42 straight days back in 1980. I guess that’s some comfort.

Meanwhile, it’s raining in the Southern California desert – Barstow, to be precise. Flood watches and warnings are issued. In July. (2:00 pm, Pacific Daylight Time)

The rain follows me around. I haven’t been to Texas for some time as you can imagine. Last time I was there it rained. That’s why it’s raining in Barstow now. Heck, I can go fishing with my brother and it will be raining on my end of the bass boat while his end will be perfectly dry and maybe even sunny!