USPS changes course amid wide outcry
Two tropical disturbances in the Atlantic are likely to develop into tropical cyclones during the next week, with tracks that favor eventual impacts on land. The reawakening of the ocean basin comes after a brief period of relative quiet, and the active stretch, which could feature multiple named storms at the same time, is likely to last into September.
The 2020 hurricane season has already shattered records for the number of named storms that have formed, including two Category 1 hurricanes that made landfall in the United States. So far, a typical season’s worth of named storms has occurred before the typical peak of hurricane season even arrives in mid-september.
Tropical Storms Kyle and Josephine dissipated over the weekend, but the next storms on the list, Laura and Marco, could materialize by the weekend as two fledgling tropical waves as they churn west and slowly gather strength. The lead distur- bance, which brought heavy rain to the Windward Islands on Monday, is now lurking in the Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center gives it a 60% chance of development during the next five days.
Behind it lags a second disturbance midway between
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Africa and South America. The NHC is more bullish with this system, assigning it a 90% likelihood of development within five days.
Meanwhile, Pacific activity is blistering. Hurricane Genevieve, which was a tropical storm Monday morning, attained Category 4 intensity, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, before sunrise Tuesday after a bout of extremely rapid intensification.
Check out the week’s weather forecast on
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What’s happening in the eastern Pacific may be a preview of what’s ahead in the tropical Atlantic.
Leading the pair of tropical waves westward is the system designated as Invest 97L. It consists of a cluster of thunderstorms that recently entered the Caribbean as it quickly zips west.
On satellite imagery Tuesday morning, two main clumps of shower and thunderstorm activity were visible charging westward. Brighter colors associated with the eastern cluster represent colder and higher cloud tops, and more vigorous convection, or thunderstorm activity.
It also appeared that the system was beginning to develop healthier inflow and outflow. Inflow, or the counterclockwise inward spiral of warm, humid air at the surface, feeds a developing cyclone. Aloft, that air exists the system in a gentle clockwise fashion, the energy it once contained spent by the storm.