Good morning everyone.

Well, I updated the site several hours ago. Sorry for the delay, but I fell asleep at about five o’ clock on Wednesday afternoon, and didn’t wake up until 12:30 AM Thursday morning. Working nights can really throw a monkey wrench in your sleeping patterns. Thank goodness I do shift work so that I can spend a couple more days at home recovering. I also was busy doing work on other projects including getting things started on my fall league coverage for GMC Hoops. Anyway, a lot has transpired since I last reported to you about the tropics.

The third hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic Hurricane Season, Hurricane Gordon, became the season’s first major hurricane with 120 mph winds, and a minimum central pressure of 955 mb, or 28.20 inches of Hg (Mercury). The storm, which has an eye that is between 30 and 40 miles wide, was located about 555 miles to the East-Southeast of Bermuda in the Central Atlantic. Fortunately for both Bermuda, whicch is still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Florence on Monday, and the East Coast of the United States is that this storm will only be for the fish and ships as it is expected to stay out at sea, and eventually weaken.

Further to the South and East, we have a new tropical storm in the Atlantic. Tropical Depression Eight, which formed well out in the Eastern Atlantic some 185 miles to the Southeast of the Cape Verde Islands off the West Coast of Africa, strengthened on Wednesday to become the season’s eighth named storm of the season, Tropical Storm Helene. As of Wednesday night, Helene was centered some 565 miles to the West of the Southernmost Cape Verde Islands.

This latest tropical storm has maximum sustained winds at minimal storm force of 40 mph while barometric pressure in the center of circulation has only dropped slightly at 1005 mb, or 29.68 inches of Hg. Helene, which is a broad circulation, has a good ball of convection, but it’s core isn’t well developed at the moment. However, conditions are favorable for strengthening, and Helene should become a hurricane within 36 hours, and come close to becoming a major hurricane within 96 hours.

Looking at this latest discussion, and seeing what has transpired with Gordon over the last 24 hours, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Helene, too, becomes a major hurricane. The storm is projected to follow a more southerly route than Florence and Gordon since it will be more under the influence of a ridge despite the erosion of that ridge by a mid to upper level trough that will bypass Helene later in the week. So, folks in Bermuda, the Northern Leeward Islands, and the East Coast of the United States should closely watch the future track of this system, especially over the next several days.

Meanwhile, right on the heels of Helene is another tropical disturbance that just moved off the African coast within the past twelve hours or so. It’s close proximity to Helene may inhibit development, but Helene is moving quite rapidly to the West so that may help this disturbance become a depression with time. According to the latest outlook from the National Hurricane Center, there is no mention of the wave while there is discussion of a disturbance in the Lesser Antilles and a strong extratropical system formerly Hurricane Florence.

Moving into the Eastern Pacific, there is a new tropical storm out there as well. Tropical Storm Lane became the twelfth named storm of the Eastern Pacific Season, which experienced a bit of a lull after Hector, Illeana, and John. Hurricane John threatened the West Coast of Mexico before moving into the Gulf of Calfornia, and even bringing a great deal of moisture to the Southwestern United States. Lane has prompted tropical storm warning flags to be posted along the Mexican Coast from Tecpan de Galeana to Cabo Corientes.

In the Western Pacific, we now have another typhoon in Shanshan. The storm is heading somewhere toward land as it may affect anywhere from the Northern Phillipines to Taiwan to Okinawa. As of several hours ago, maximum sustained winds with the system were at 90 mph, or 150 kilometers per hour, which would make it a strong Category One Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

Ever wonder what happened to Hurricane and Super Typhoon Ioke? Well, after the storm, which crossed the International Date Line after passing close to Johnston Island and to the south of Hawaii, affected Wake Island, it recurved to the East of Japan, became extratropical, and merged with another system to bring heavy rains to Alaska last week.