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Caribbean Hurricane Network

- Updates from the Islands -

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2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season
| Arthur | Bertha | Cristobal | Dolly | Edouard | Fay | Gustav | Hanna | Ike | Josephine | Kyle | Laura | Marco | Nana | Omar | Paloma | Rene | Sally | Teddy | Vicky | Wilfred |

Active Tropical Systems: None!
Atlantic Hurricane Season is from June 1 - November 30

GOES-12 Hurricane Sector - http://wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov
GOES-12 Satellite - Zoomed in on the Caribbean (14:15 UTC, 33066 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].

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 11:14:38 -0500 - Christmas

Good morning and Merry Christmas to all. May the upcoming New Year be blessed and all storms recurve to sea before reaching land!
 
Dave

Tuesday, December 2, 2008 07:18AM PST - Finally...
At last, 2008 Hurricane Season is finally over. And it seemed to have been a very long one (at least for me...)! Esp. Haiti seemed to be in the path of 4 drenching storms in a row (Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike). This season produced some storms we will never forget. Ike in Turks and Caicos, Paloma in the Cayman's and another late storm Omar, although not that big, caused plenty of headache in US and British Virgin Islands, St.Maarten/St.Martin. A more detailed analysis will come soon... In the meantime check out the excellent 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season chapter at Wikipedia. Below a satellite image I enhanced of Paloma near Cayman Brac, something we don't like to see again next year... Thanks again to all the excellent volunteer hurricane correspondents for sending in their updates from the islands! -Gert

GOES Visible 1km Nov.8, 7:15AM Cayman Time

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:14:39 -0400 - 96L!

Good morning!
 
Houston, we have blobbage! No, not in the usual areas for blobs off to the east that we are accustomed to but in the extreme SW Caribbean off the coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. I mentioned this area in last Friday's post as having potential even though it was late in the season. Yes, the "official" end is near for the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season but it's Mother Nature who really decides. And I guess she feels she has to generate one more before colder SST's and wind shear put an end to her tricks.
 
96L is under assault from 20-30 mph of wind shear so development, while possible, will be quite slow. Interaction with land is forecast and this just might move into Central America bringing heavy, flooding rains to the region. Unfortunately, not all of the models have it going that direction and hopes are it doesn't spawn the "Son of Lenny" as "Uncle Omar" was enough for this November!
 
Off to the east, cooler waters, cold fronts and wind shear have made conditions inhospitable for system development. Sea conditions around the Greater Antilles and the Northern Lesser Antilles have been anything but friendly to cruise ships and other vessels with high winds and rough seas. We've had a high surf advisory for the last 3-4 days and more than a few cruise ship passengers have felt the rolling effects of these seas. Ah, the change of seasons!
 
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
 
Dave

... Older discussions >>

Current Tropical Weather Outlook (NHC/TPC):
Accompanying satellite image (pop-up, NHC)
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
700 PM EST SUN NOV 30 2008

CORRECTED SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE HEADER TO READ MIADSAAT

FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO...

AS THE 2008 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON APPROACHES ITS CONCLUSION...
TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48
HOURS.

ISSUANCE OF THIS PRODUCT WILL RESUME ON 1 JUNE 2009.  SHOULD ANY
SIGNIFICANT DISTURBANCES DEVELOP DURING THE OFF-SEASON...SPECIAL
TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENTS WOULD BE ISSUED...AS NEEDED.
SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENTS CAN BE FOUND UNDER WMO
HEADER WONT41 KNHC...AND UNDER AWIPS HEADER MIADSAAT.

$$

FORECASTER STEWART
More detail in the Tropical Weather Discussion or view satellite imagery

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Latest local updates from the special
hurricane correspondents on the islands:
- Culebra (PR) [Jan 6 6:54]
- Montserrat [Jan 5 14:54]
- Tortola [Jan 5 10:50]
- Nevis [Jan 4 10:29]
- Antigua [Jan 3 20:43]
- Dominica [Jan 3 11:02]
- Saba [Jan 2 13:21]
- Bonaire [Dec 31 16:01]
- Aruba [Dec 31 13:23]
- Vieques (PR) [Dec 31 10:03]
- St.Maarten/St.Martin [Dec 31 9:08]
- St.Croix [Dec 28 6:44]
- Cayman Islands [Dec 25 14:44]
- Dominican Republic [Dec 25 8:57]
- Jamaica [Dec 24 13:12]
- Trinidad & Tobago [Dec 21 9:23]
- St.John [Dec 19 11:23]
- Curaçao [Dec 17 12:05]
- Barbados [Dec 4 17:02]
- Puerto Rico [Nov 30 22:19]
- Grenada [Nov 28 13:10]
- St.Vincent & Grenadines [Nov 22 20:24]
- St.Kitts [Nov 13 18:06]
- Bahamas [Nov 10 10:52]
- Turks & Caicos [Nov 6 21:39]
- Honduras [Nov 6 5:44]
- Belize [Nov 1 15:29]
- St.Thomas [Oct 27 10:20]
- St.Barts [Oct 25 4:42]
- Anguilla [Oct 21 14:41]
- Mexico (incl. Cozumel & Cancun) [Oct 19 18:59]
- St.Lucia [Oct 17 22:49]
- General Update [Oct 17 17:35]
- Statia [Oct 17 15:55]
- Guadeloupe [Oct 16 21:47]
- Jost van Dyke [Oct 16 8:33]
- Haiti [Sep 24 15:50]
- Florida Keys [Sep 10 16:03]
- Cuba [Aug 17 12:32]
- Bermuda [Jul 15 16:56]

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



- - - Local hurricane correspondents wanted! - - -

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.


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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