Nice weather to continue through Wed. before humidity begins to return Thu. along with warmer temps. Pleasant lows in the 50s & afternoon highs near 80 Wed.
Looks like our next best chance for rain will be Fri. as low pressure moves by to the north of Jacksonville swinging a cool front across the area. Showers & t'storms will develop Fri. into Fri. night but coverage remains questionable. The situation is at least somewhat similar to Sun. in that we'll be dealing with weakening convergence with the front & possible upper level warming. Moisture might end up more favorable, however. The rainfall potential should become more clear the next couple days.
Winds will continue to keep smoke away from Jax Wed. but southeast winds should carry smoke from the Daytona fires into Palatka & maybe as far west & northwest as Gainesville, Starke, Lake Butler & Raiford. Winds will become more southerly Thu. which could carry the smoke more north possible including metro Jax...depending on the size & intensity of the fire by that time.
NOAA reports today that 3 names from last year's hurricane season will be retired:
Dean, Felix, and Noel Retired From List of Storm Names
International Committee Selects Replacement Names for 2013 List
The names Dean, Felix, and Noel, three of the most devastating storms of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, were retired by members of the 30th Session of the World Meteorological Organization's Regional Association IV Hurricane Committee during its annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Members of the committee, which includes representatives from NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, can remove names associated with storms that cause significant loss of life and property. These names will not be used again because of the wide spread destruction caused by these storms.
The committee issues a list of potential names for tropical cyclones every six years and for 2013, Dean, Felix, and Noel have been replaced with Dorian, Fernand, and Nestor. Since tropical cyclones were first named in 1953, 70 names have been retired, the first two being Carol and Hazel in 1954.
Details of the newly retired 2007 named storms are shown below:
• Dean passed between St. Lucia and Martinique on Aug. 17 on a remarkably constant heading across the Caribbean Sea, passing just south of Jamaica with Category 4 winds of 145 mph. Over the warm waters of the northwestern Caribbean Sea, Dean reached Category 5 strength of 165 mph just before landfall on Aug. 21 near Costa Maya on the Yucatan Peninsula. It weakened over land but emerged into the Bay of Campeche, strengthening to Category 2 status just before landfall the next day south of Tuxpan, Mexico. Dean is directly responsible for 32 deaths across the Caribbean, with the largest tolls in Mexico and Haiti.
• Felix was the second hurricane of the season to make landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, a feat never seen before in records dating back to 1851. Felix became a hurricane on Sept. 1 over the southwestern Caribbean Sea. It rapidly intensified, and Felix became a Category 5 hurricane about 400 miles southeast of Jamaica. The storm weakened to Category 3 but re-intensified to Category 5 status just before landfall on Sept. 4 at Punta Gorda, Nicaragua. Felix was responsible for 130 deaths in Nicaragua and Honduras, causing major damage in northeastern Nicaragua and inland flooding over portions of Central America.
• Noel was a slow-moving tropical storm from Oct. 25 to Oct. 31, while over the Dominican Republic, Haiti, eastern Cuba and the lower Bahamas before reaching Category 1 hurricane strength on Nov. 1 in the northwestern Bahamas. As it accelerated northeast over the western Atlantic waters near Nantucket Island, Mass. it was no longer classified as a tropical system but packed 75 mph winds as it came ashore near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Noel was responsible for at least 160 deaths across the Caribbean and Bahamas. The system produced hurricane forecast winds over portions of the northeast U.S. and Canada, producing widespread power outages. It also produced significant coastal flooding and wave action that washed out coastal roads in portions of Nova Scotia.
Names for the upcoming 2008 Atlantic season, which begins June 1, include Arthur, Bertha, Christobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna, Ike, Josephine, Kyle, Laura, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paloma, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Vicky, and Wilfred.
Pictures continue to roll in from Sun's. tornadoes. The photos below are from "Dave" & show the St. Simons Island/Easter Island tornado (EF-1) + damage at a golf range business. This tornado occurred between 2:30 & 3pm.
The Darien tornado in McIntosh Co., GA northwest of Brunswick which crossed I-95 Sun. near 10am was very violent & has been rated at least as a high end EF-3. Check out
these photos from Brunswicknews.com which include some excellent photos of the twister(s).
Here's the preliminary summary from Charleston, SC:
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
1025 PM EDT MON MAY 12 2008
...PRELIMINARY INFORMATION FOR THE MCINTOSH COUNTY TORNADO ON SUNDAY
MORNING MAY 11TH...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT TEAM HAS SURVEYED THE AREA OF MCINTOSH COUNTY NORTHWEST TO NORTHEAST OF DARIEN. AS A RESULT...A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT HAS BEEN MADE ON THIS TORNADO.
A TORNADO FORMED AT 956 AM...3 MILES NORTHWEST OF DARIEN AND TRACKED EAST 5.5 MILES TO ABOUT 4 MILES NORTHEAST OF DARIEN IN THE VICINITY OF HIRD ISLAND AT 1003 AM.
THIS TORNADO DESTROYED A MARINE SALES AND SERVICES BUSINESS. ALL
THAT WAS LEFT OF THIS METAL BUILDING WAS A CONCRETE SLAB. ABOUT 50 BOATS WERE TOSSED AROUND AND DESTROYED...WITH ONE 18 FOOT 4000 POUND BOAT CARRIED ABOUT 650 YARDS INTO SOME TREES. A 32 FOOT 8000 POUND BOAT WAS CARRIED ABOUT 130 YARDS ONTO THE TOP OF THE GATEWAY BEHAVIORAL SERVICES BUILDING. A SECOND SMALLER BOAT WAS ALSO CARRIED INTO THE BUILDING. A VEHICLE THAT WAS PARKED IN THE PARKING LOT WAS CARRIED IN THE AIR 150 YARDS. ONE 125 HP BOAT MOTOR WEIGHING 300 TO 350 POUNDS WAS CARRIED 250 YARDS AND DEPOSITED INTO THE ROOF OF A BUILDING. AT THIS TIME...ONE OF THE BOATS HAS NOT BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR. SEVERAL OTHER VEHICLES NEAR THIS BUSINESS WERE ROLLED OR TOSSED AND SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. DAMAGE TO THE BUILDING AND ALL THE BOATS WERE ESTIMATED TO BE 5 MILLION DOLLARS.
THE GATEWAY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND SERVICES BUILDING WAS TOTALLY DESTROYED. THE ROOF COLLAPSED ALONG WITH MANY OF THE OUTER BRICK WALLS. PORTIONS OF THE METAL ROOF WERE CARRIED MORE THAN A MILE AWAY WITH SOME OF IT LANDING ON INTERSTATE 95. OF THE 40 PEOPLE THAT WERE IN THE BUILDING WHEN THE TORNADO HIT...9 WERE INJURED SUSTAINING BROKEN BONES AND/OR LACERATIONS. SIX VEHICLES AROUND THIS BUILDING WERE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED AND A METAL LIGHT POLE WAS SNAPPED OFF.
THE MCINTOSH EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES METAL BUILDING WAS DESTROYED BY THE TORNADO WITH DAMAGE TO THREE AMBULANCES AND ONE FIRE TRUCK.
TWO OTHER BUSINESSES IN THIS AREA SUFFERED DAMAGE...INCLUDING DAMAGE TO SATELLITE DISHES AND TWO OVERTURNED TRACTOR TRAILERS.
IN OTHER AREAS ALONG THE TORNADO PATH THE TORNADO DAMAGED OR
DESTROYED FOUR BILLBOARDS ALONG INTERSTATE 95...PRODUCED MAINLY
MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO SEVERAL DOZEN HOMES...SNAPPED OFF OR UPROOTED THOUSANDS OF TREES...SOME OF THEM FALLING ON HOMES OR VEHICLES AND DAMAGED OR DESTROYED NUMEROUS OUTBUILDINGS.
NEAR THE END OF THE PATH...THE TORNADO DAMAGED THE BLUE-N-HALL
MARINA AND FISHING DOCK. IN THIS AREA...A LARGE BOAT HOIST ALONG WITH 18 BOATS AND SEVERAL BOAT TRAILERS WERE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. SEVERAL POWER POLES WERE SNAPPED OFF AND SEVERAL VEHICLES WERE DAMAGED.
THE MAXIMUM WIDTH OF THIS TORNADO WAS 700 YARDS WHEN IT CROSSED
INTERSTATE 95. THIS TORNADO WILL POTENTIALLY BE RATED EF3 OR GREATER BASED ON THE DAMAGE TO MARINE SALES AND SERVICES BUSINESS AND THE GATEWAY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND SERVICES BUILDING.
