Helene Becomes Second Major Hurricane Of 2006

Good morning everyone.

Sorry that I’ve been away the past several days, but I’ve been busy with work and getting an assignment done for school. I also had some other web sites that I had to work on. Anyway, I’ve been keeping abreast of what has been happening in the tropics the past few days with an update of the site from time to time. Nevertheless, a lot continues to happen in the Atlantic. We now have our second major hurricane of the 2006 season as Helene continues to strengthen in the Central Atlantic.

With Helene strengthening to Category Three on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, we have had a total of eight named storms, four hurricanes, and two major hurricanes. Those totals are exactly half of what we had in the Atlantic up to this same point in 2005. However, it is a bit unfair to compare this season to the 2005 season since that year was way off the charts in terms of activity.

As a matter of fact, despite the quiet start, the season is on par to be at least normal compared to the fifty year average from 1950-2000, and could actually meet some of the latest forecast numbers by both Dr. William Gray and NOAA. We are still in the active period for Atlantic storms, and it is still possible to see a storm or two by the end of September. October has also been active, especially in recent years with such storms as Opal (1995), Mitch (1998),Keith (2000), Michael (2000), Iris (2001), Stan (2005), and Wilma (2005).

Helene currently has winds of 105 knots, or 120 mph with a barometric pressure of 958 mb, or 28.29 inches of Hg. As of the 5 AM Advisory from the National Hurricane Center. The storm system is moving slowly to the North-Northwest at 7 mph, and is located some 920 miles to the East-Northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands, or about 1160 miles to the East-Southeast of Bermuda. By the way, we also still have Hurricane Gordon, which has been quite resilient some 1245 miles to the West of the Azores. However, Gordon is projected to become extratropical over the next 36 hours. Back to Helene, it is forecast to become stronger, and it could take the place of Gordon as the most powerful storm of the season.

At peak intensity, Gordon had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, and a minimum central pressure of 955 mb, or 28.20 inches of Hg (Mercury). Now, Helene has matched those peak winds, and is only several millibars off of Gordon’s lowest pressure. The chances for strengthening should increase to as a trough of low pressure in the vicinity is expected to lift out. Helene is the fourth storm in the Atlantic to miss the Lesser Antilles, and curve in the direction of Bermuda. Previous storms that have followed this general path in 2006 have been Debby, Florence, and Gordon.

So, here’s been the trend for landfalling storms and other storms trajectories during this active period. In 1995 it was the Florida Panhandle with Allison, Erin, and Opal. From 1996 to 1999 it was the Atlantic Coast, particuarly North Carolina. Both 2000 and 2001 had many of the big storms affecting the Southwestern Caribbean and Central America while 2002 saw several storms threaten the Central Gulf Coast of the United States. The following year, 2003 saw the major storms such as Fabian and Isabel affect Bermuda and the Atlantic coast. Florida was hit hard by hurricanes in 2004 and the Central Gulf Coast and Florida took a pounding in 2005.

Beyond Helene, there isn’t much to worry about in the tropics at the moment although there is a non-tropical low located several hundred miles off the Carolinas this morning. It is expected to merge later this week with an approaching cold front that has been producing severe weather in the Midwestern United States. However, another large wave is about to enter the Atlantic off the West African coast. So, we’ll have to watch it over the next several days.

Moving over into the Eastern Pacific, we still have some activity with Miriam still a depression after forming over the weekend. Lane made landfall some 20 miles to the Southeast of El Dorado along the Mexican coast, and its remnants is feeding moisture into the United States and helped contribute to this weekend’s severe weather. Over in the Western Pacific, Typhoon Shanshan crashed ashore in Japan with winds as high as 100 mph, and torrential rains. Some of the highest winds in the storm blew over a train, which is an incident reminiscent of the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935.

One thought on “Helene Becomes Second Major Hurricane Of 2006

  1. […] The last time I wrote to you here on the blog, Hurricane Helene was just shy of becoming the strongest hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic Hurricane season. Winds were at 120 mph and pressure had dropped to 28.29 inches of Hg. Well, shortly after that, some forty-eight hours ago, Helene became the strongest storm of 2006 with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, and a minimum central pressure of 28.17 inches of Hg. Since that time, Helene has weakened a bit. Weakening to just below major hurricane status with 110 mph winds within the past 24 hours, Helene is still a Category Two Hurricane, but weakened slightly more with winds decreasing to 105 mph as of the 11 AM EDT Advisory on Wednesday morning. […]

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