Friday, July 23, 2010

Not Much Left of Bonnie

Bonnie has been downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression this evening. The biggest factor for this weakening system has been very strong winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere.

These strong winds are shearing apart the cloud tops, preventing Bonnie from getting organized and strengthening.

This is certainly good news for residents along the Gulf coast, who now just will only have to deal with rain and nothing more.

The image above shows the latest forecast track from the National Hurricane Center. Notice how thin the cone is in the track. That narrow range in the cone represents high confidence in the forecast track, something we like to see.

It appears that Bonnie will make its second landfall late Saturday evening or early Sunday morning between Mobile, AL and Morgan City, LA.

By being west of the low pressure center, that will put us on the back side of the system, giving us some tropical rain showers.

Here is a timeline of what we can expect from this system here in Deep East Texas

Saturday: Hot and humid with an isolated shower late.

Sunday: Increasing clouds with rain becoming more numerous, especially during the afternoon hours.

Monday: Lingering tropical moisture will continue to provide locally heavy downpours.

Have a great weekend and remember to check our Hurricane Center for the latest updates on Bonnie.

0 comments: