Tropical Storm 'Little Claudette': July 13, Update A

I missed short-lived Tropical Storm Bob (I was probably having a 10-minute power nap at the time), and almost missed our pretty pathetic ‘Tropical Storm’ Claudette too! This is not what I would call a robust tropical storm by any stretch of the imagination. She officially came into being less than 12 hours ago, at 37.4N, 68.1W (quite a bit north of the ‘tropics’). She did try and have some convection, but is not doing so well at the moment. You can see a few drops of rain to the northeast of her center of circulation in the latest infrared satellite images: 

She does have some circulation in the lower half of the troposphere, so I would agree that she’s a tropical storm in structure. She is now at around 38.9N, 64.9W. Maximum winds are estimated to be 50mph, central pressure is estimated to be 1004 mb. 

She is moving over fairly cold water for a storm – the sea surface temperature is around 25 deg C. As she is moving to the ENE at a very rapid 20mph (too fast for any self-respecting decent storm), I agree with the NHC that she will soon decrease in intensity as she continues to move over colder waters.

There’s not much else to say about Little Claudette really. Obviously not much to worry about unless you are a fish. Or sailing in the middle of the north Atlantic.

More excitingly… are you following the exciting adventures of New Horizons and its 9 year journey to boldly go where no cartoon has gone before? Tomorrow is the day we get to Pluto! What an achievement for science and engineering and all such good things! Most definitely worthy of a celebratory glass or two! :-)

More tomorrow!

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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