July 4: Hurricane Arthur, Update A

Happy Independence Day America! A historic day indeed! In honour of today I won't mention that apple pie was an English dish from at least the 1380s or that baseball was played in England in at least the 1740s. Instead, because I'm a nice person (grin), here's a completely different fun fact for you: In 1776 some of the founding fathers (and mothers) of America were as old as Millennials are today (Millennials were born between the early 1980s and 2000)! Details here.

'Hurricane' King Arthur (he's not really one anymore as you will see) is officially at 41.2N, 68.7W, moving  to the NE at a whopping 31mph! This is too fast for a tropical storm and is the first indication that he is no longer a tropical storm, but is an extratropical system and has merged with a low pressure front.

His winds are 75mph, central pressure is officially still 976mb. Although 75mph winds means he is officially a weak cat 1 storm, but I agree with the NHC today because they have actually already said that he isn't a hurricane and have explained that they are being generous with this estimate of winds speed for now. When a storm merges with an extratropical front and has such a fast forward motion, one would expect high winds, even if it isn't a tropical storm/hurricane any more.

The satellite images clearly show how Arthur's appearance has changed over the last few hours:

 

The hint of an eye he had has vanished, his structure and circulation has also pretty much disappeared, and there is much less convection. I expect they will downgrade him tomorrow, so this is my last entry on 'King Arthur of the Nights of the Round Storms'.

I'll be back when we have another one out there. I hope everyone had a safe and fun day! :-)

Toodle pip!
J.

Blogs archived at http://jyotikastorms.blogspot.com/
Twitter @JyovianStorm
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DISCLAIMER: These remarks are just what I think/see regarding tropical storms - not the opinion of any organization I represent. If you are making an evacuation decision, please heed your local emergency management and the National Hurricane Center's official forecast and the National Weather Service announcements. This is not an official forecast. If I "run away, run away" (Monty Python), I'll let you know.
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