Isaac May Be Leaving, But Kirk And Leslie Are Keeping Things Busy

The National Hurricane Center issued its last advisory on Tropical Depression Isaac as of 5:00 PM EDT on Thursday. However, there are still other storms churning in the Atlantic. The tropics are far from done.

As Isaac closed in on landfall across Southern Louisiana on Tuesday afternoon, Kirk emerged in the Central Atlantic as a depression, and has grown considerably over the past 48 hours. The latest advisory on the fifth hurricane of the 2012 season has winds increasing to 90 miles per hour making it a strong Category One Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. The good news is that Kirk, which is located some 1,065 miles from the Northern Leeward Islands, is not expected to impact the United States.

Further to the south in the Central Atlantic is our latest tropical system. Tropical Storm Leslie developed during the late morning hours on Tuesday, and within several hours became the 12th named storm of the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season. Leslie has continued to strengthen too with winds increasing to 45 miles per hour as of the 5:00 PM EDT Advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

The latest forecast discussion on the storm calls for Leslie to strengthen further to a Category Two Hurricane by 72 hours, and remaining at that intensity through five days. Most indications are showing Leslie staying far away from the East Coast of the United States thanks to a trough developing in the Western Atlantic that will force the subtropical ridge to retreat. Leslie is expected to exploit the weakness in the ridge, and turn northward.

With the developments of Kirk and Leslie, we now have 12 named storms and 5 hurricanes. Last week, the formation of Joyce equaled the mark set in 1995 for the earliest forming J storm. Now, the emergence of Leslie was the second earliest forming L storm ever behind Luis from 1995. The number of named storms and hurricanes to date this year have actually equaled or exceeded those in 2005, which was the busiest season on record. Fortunately, none of the hurricanes thus far have become major storms of Category Three strength or better, but as Isaac has shown, minimal hurricanes can cause damage too.

Considering that early seasonal forecasts had indicated a less active season, and no storms fired up during the month of July, it is quite remarkable that this season is rivaling the numbers posted by the 2005 season.