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2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season | Ana | Bill | Claudette | Danny | Erika | Fred | Grace | Henri | Ida | Joaquin | Kate | Larry | Mindy | Nicholas | Odette | Peter | Rose | Sam | Teresa | Victor | Wanda | Active Tropical Systems: None! Atlantic Hurricane Season is from June 1 - November 30 GOES-12 Satellite - Zoomed in on the Caribbean (11:15 UTC, 2911 minutes ago) Note: Old image - NASA server down(?); Look here for more recent images. Vertical gridlines 10° or about 650 miles (~1050 km) apart. [more satellite imagery]. Wednesday, July 1, 2009 18:21PM PDT - Climatology Updated I have just updated the Climatology of Caribbean Hurricanes section. It now covers all tropical storms from 1851 through 2008 (1,410 storms total). For this I recreated about 650 webpages and 4,500 images using the latest 'best track' data available from the National Hurricane Center's North Atlantic hurricane database reanalysis project (website). Check out the detailed information about all storm tracks that passed by your favorite island, and find the peak of the season, or when the worst time to travel is for your favorite island. Furthermore I ranked each island by the number of storms passing close by to award teh price of the 'hurricane capital' of the Caribbean. Check it out at: stormcarib.com/climatology. So far this season we haven't had a named storm yet. Does it mean that the rest of the season will be quiet as well? Unfortunately no..., for example, in 2004 the first storm didn't form until the end of July, almost two months into hurricane season, but there were still 15 named storms, incl. Ivan. Some years ago I did some statistics on this, you can find it in the climatology section as well on this page. -Gert 30 Jun 2009 12:11:20 -0000 - Quiet June Good morning,   As a quiet June 2009 comes to a close, there are no storms on the horizon in the Atlantic Basin, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The main activity we will be watching the next few days consists of a low latitude tropical wave near 51W which will impact our area probably Friday into Saturday with another patch of Saharan Dust making it's appearance ahead of this wave Wednesday night. Winds will increase as well due to high pressure in the central Atlantic shifting westward which will tighten a loose pressure gradient reaching their peak Friday as well. Sunday should be dry as the holiday weekend comes to a close as does the 2009 Carnival festival in St. John.   Another active tropical wave is exiting the African coast but will diminish in intensity like it's predecessors as the waters are just too cold in that area. In addition, waves which could make it across would have to deal with upper level westerlies around 30,000 feet and the dust factor so a hostile takeover would ensue.   Happy Independence Day!   Dave Friday, June 26, 2009 15:19PM PDT - Invest 93L Dave's blob has indeed been 'upgraded' to an invest. It looks quite impressive, esp. because of its symmetry, on the satellite image above, but apparently conditions are not that great to become the first storm for now. However, if it rolls into the Gulf of Mexico that might change (click on the 'model track' links above for more info, or check out the Tropical Weather Outlook below). In the meantime, expect some weather in its path, see some postings by our hurricane correspondents on Cayman, Belize and Mexico. -Gert 26 Jun 2009 11:52:11 -0000 - Dust and 3's Good morning,   While this may be a weather forum, it has to be said what a loss to the world yesterday with the passing of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and the day before, Ed McMahon. Since most tend to believe things happen or come in three's, let that be the end for now. May they all rest in peace.   On my way home last night, I saw the last blue fleck of sky enveloped by saharan dust and as darkness fell, the lights of Jost Van Dyke and Tortola were extinguished by the seething surge. Mind you, these islands are under ten miles away from my place on the east end of St. Thomas. This morning, all haze and dry with filtered sunlight.   The blob in the Western Caribbean around the Caymans has persisted throughout the night growing in intensity and should become an invest sometime this morning. Current thoughts have it going up into Florida and the Carolina's which would for all intents and purposes, put an end to any lingering droughts. Will it become named? Hmmmmm....   Dave ... Older discussions >> Wednesday, June 3, 2009 20:25PM PDT - Sponsorship Since I started the Caribbean Hurricane Network over ten years ago, this website has become very popular. During hurricane season this site is visited millions of times, and even outside the season many people check in to see what is happening on the islands. It has become one of the most widely used weather and community based website in the Caribbean. Unfortunately since the text ads and donations don't bring in enough money to cover the expenses of running stormCARIB, I have (finally) decided to become more serious about advertising. I have teamed up with a media specialist and we are now looking for 3-5 big sponsors who want to advertise on this website on a cpm basis. E-mail me if you are interested. Hopefully with the sponsoring I don't have to ask for your donations anymore and can keep this website running for a long time to come. -Gert Current Tropical Weather Outlook (NHC/TPC): en Español Accompanying satellite image (pop-up, NHC) NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 200 AM EDT SAT JUL 4 2009 FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO... A NON-TROPICAL AREA OF LOW PRESSURE LOCATED ABOUT 950 MILES SOUTHWEST OF THE AZORES CONTINUES TO PRODUCE SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY TO THE EAST OF ITS CENTER. UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN UNFAVORABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM AS IT MOVES EASTWARD NEAR 10 MPH TOWARD COOLER WATERS. THERE IS A LOW CHANCE...LESS THAN 30 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL OR SUBTROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS. ELSEWHERE...TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS. $$ FORECASTER BERG More detail in the Tropical Weather Discussion or view satellite imagery - - - Do you live in the Caribbean? - - - Join our team of special local hurricane correspondents.    stormCARIB is brought to you by GoBeach Vacations    - Your Accommodation Specialist for the Caribbean - stormCARIB is hosted at and supported by pairNetworks

-- Donate to stormCARIB -- Latest local updates from the special hurricane correspondents on the islands: - Curaçao [Jul 4 0:35] - Tortola [Jul 3 20:50] - St.Vincent & Grenadines [Jul 3 15:18] - Bonaire [Jul 3 13:47] - Trinidad & Tobago [Jul 3 13:01] - Grenada [Jul 3 9:24] - St.Croix [Jul 2 8:08] - St.Thomas [Jul 1 14:33] - Mexico (incl. Cozumel & Cancun) [Jul 1 11:10] - Culebra (PR) [Jul 1 8:02] - Nevis [Jul 1 7:56] - St.John [Jul 1 7:49] - St.Maarten/St.Martin [Jun 30 19:39] - Bahamas [Jun 30 18:44] - Vieques (PR) [Jun 30 9:41] - Belize [Jun 28 11:23] - Bermuda [Jun 28 9:50] - Cayman Islands [Jun 27 0:10] - Puerto Rico [Jun 26 19:03] - St.Lucia [Jun 26 16:38] - Saba [Jun 26 12:15] - Dominica [Jun 26 9:40] - Antigua [Jun 24 7:39] - Statia [Jun 21 21:21] - Jamaica [Jun 10 13:12] - Guadeloupe [Jun 9 12:42] - Dominican Republic [Jun 1 16:12] - Barbados [Jun 1 9:36] - Honduras [May 28 11:40] - Turks & Caicos [May 19 7:13] Only reports received for this season are listed. See the archive for previous years. Links to excellent websites: - Navy/NRL Monterey - WeatherUnderground - NOAA/NESDIS (floater loops) - RAMSDIS Imagery - STORM2K forums - more... Storm definitions by wind speed: - Tropical Depression <39mph - Tropical Storm 39-73mph - Cat.1 Hurricane 74-95mph - Cat.2 Hurricane 96-110mph - Cat.3 Hurricane 111-130mph - Cat.4 Hurricane 131-155mph - Cat.5 Hurricane >155mph More info in the Practical Guide

The local hurricane correspondents are the heart and soul of stormCARIB. They are the people who live on the island and write to us what is going on around them. First hand very local personal reports instead of very limited or sensationalized coverage by the general media. Do you live on one of the islands? We need your help! We are looking for more people who are interested in sending us a few paragraphs about the situation on your island before, during and after a storm hits. You don't need to be a weatherman or expert on the subject, just share with us what you know, feel and see on your island. Your help will be really appreciated by Caribbean people living abroad with family living on the islands, future visitors who have their Caribbean dream-vacation booked, etc.etc. Reliable, not-sensationalized information is just so hard to get in crisis situations. Help keep the rest of the world up-to-date with what is really happening! We really need you, Georges back in 1998, and many others since then are proof! If interested, contact gert@gobeach.com.

WHAT TO FIND ON StormCARIB.com:
This website is all about the Caribbean. Here you can find information, weather discussions and local reports regarding tropical systems threatening the Caribbean islands. A central part of this website is the volunteer network of special local hurricane correspondents, living on the islands, who will report, when need be, on how it looks and feels like around them. Above also hopefully easy to understand weather discussions by me and Dave. In addition, as an aid in locating family or friends on the islands in an emergency situation you can post your 'plea for help' on the bulletin board. Also featured on this website is the Quick Hurricane Web Resource Navigator, for easy locating to the least overloaded webserver for National Hurricane Center advisories and the latest satellite images. Another part of the Caribbean Hurricane Network is the 'practical guide' to hurricane tracking with unit conversions, definitions, tips, links, etc. You can also find out how close the storm is and how many hours you have left to prepare plus you can map the closest point of approach of a hurricane to your location. New is the climatology of Caribbean hurricanes section. Find out when the real peak of hurricane season is for individual islands, view hurricane tracks passing by the islands over the last 150+ years. An archive with detailed reports of how the Caribbean islands fared during the 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 (incl. Frances and Ivan), 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999 (incl. Floyd and Lenny), 1998 (incl. Georges and Mitch), 1997 and 1996 seasons are still available as well. Plus there is more, like storm-centered satellite images, make your own local satellite loop, etc. Hope you find the information on this website (now counting over thousands pages with original content) helpful. Comments always welcome! RSS web feed available. As a side note I am now accepting donations as well. Thanks for visiting!

Maintained & moderated by: Gert van Dijken (gert@gobeach.com).
Weather discussions also by Dave McDermott, St.Thomas, USVI.

Disclaimer
The information on these pages is derived from weather statements provided by the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center, and others, and from hurricane correspondents in the Caribbean. I tried to translate the official weather statements in more layman's terms. Also, I tried to fill the gap in reporting on what is happening in the Caribbean, instead of the US (there are already many other good website which focus on the US). Keep in mind that my statements are my own interpretations from the information available to me. Therefore, use the information at your own risk, and above all, don't use these webpages for making life-or-death decisions, always rely on the official and qualified authorities! Accuracy of eye-witness reports by the special hurricane correspondents have not been checked. They may be highly subjective. The author can not be held responsible for lost property, ruined vacations and the like. Despite all this I hope you found the webpage informative and useful. These pages do not have a commercial intent. GoBeach Vacations provided the means and opportunity to start all this. 'Unfortunately' this website has become too popular, placing too much load on the gobeach.com webservers. Luckily, starting in 2000, my excellent webhost provider, pairNetworks, liked my website so much that they support services whenever they can. Comments are always welcome. Just send a note to gert@gobeach.com. Gert