Hurricane Season 2011: System 93L (Atlantic Ocean)
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This visible image of System 93L (left) east-southeast of Brownsville, Texas and a larger area of low pressure located a couple hundred miles south of Jamaica (bottom right) was taken from the GOES-13 satellite on June 3 at 1731 UTC (1:31 p.m. EDT). The Jamaican low is expected to be a big rainmaker. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project, Dennis Chesters
NASA Watching Two Areas in the Caribbean, One is a Rainmaker
There are two low pressure areas in the Caribbean Sea for future development into tropical cyclones, although the chances are near zero for one, and minimal for the other. The GOES-13 satellite has been following the life of System 93L, which is one of those systems. The second low pressure area may not develop over the weekend, but threatens heavy rain in Hispaniola, Cuba and Jamaica.
The GOES-13 satellite provides images of the U.S. east coast, Atlantic and Caribbean Sea continually every day. In an image from 1731 UTC (1:31 p.m. EDT) today, June 3, the low pressure area known as System 93L is located in the far western Caribbean Sea. It appears as a small area of cloudiness, about 275 miles east-southeast of Brownsville, Texas. GOES-13 has been tracking that low pressure area for over a week, since it developed off the North Carolina coast and tracked across Florida last weekend and into the Gulf of Mexico.
Wind shear will continue to prevent System 93L from developing further over the weekend, so there's a "near zero percent chance" it will develop in the next 48 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center. System 93L now appears to be moving northwestward between 10 and 15 mph after tracking southward earlier this week.
A second low pressure area is also catching the eye of forecasters who use GOES-13 satellite data. The second low is located a couple hundred miles south of Jamaica and has become a little better defined today. That low pressure area appears to dwarf System 93L in size, as the center of circulation is surrounded by a large area of cloudiness.
One factor that keeps that low's chance for development down to 20% this weekend is the movement of dry air into its western side. Dry air prevents formation of the thunderstorms that power a tropical cyclone.
Despite the low chances for development, however, this low is expected to bring heavy rainfall, flash flooding and mudslides over portions of Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and southeastern Cuba over the next couple of days. That low is forecast to remain almost stationary over the west-central Caribbean Sea for the next couple of days.
The image of both low pressure areas was created by the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) are managed by NOAA, and the NASA/NOAA GOES Project creates images and animations from those satellites.
GOES-13 Movies Shows System 93L Rocket into the Gulf of Mexico
GOES-13 satellite imagery from May 31 at 8:31 a.m. EDT through June 2 8:15 a.m. EDT shows System 93L's speedy track from the Atlantic Ocean into the Gulf of Mexico. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project, Dennis Chesters
The GOES-13 satellite watched overnight as the low pressure area called System 93L in the Atlantic Ocean skirted across northern Florida and into the north-central Gulf of Mexico.
This infrared image of System 93L was captured from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on NASA's Aqua satellite on June 1 at 18:35 UTC (4:35 p.m. EDT) as it was crossing north Florida. Purple areas indicate strong thunderstorms and cold, high cloud tops and there were very few of them. The blue areas indicate weaker storms with warmer cloud tops. Credit: NASA JPL, Ed Olsen
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This visible image of System 93L was taken from the GOES-13 satellite on June 2 at 12:31 UTC (8:31 a.m. EDT) and shows a disorganized low pressure area south of Louisiana. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project, Dennis Chesters
An animation created by the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. shows satellite imagery in 15 minute intervals from May 31 at 12:31 UTC (8:31 a.m. EDT) until June 2 at 1215 UTC (8:15 a.m. EDT) that tracked the low pressure area's speedy track into the Gulf of Mexico.
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite called GOES-13 captures imagery of weather over the eastern half of the U.S. continually, every day. GOES-13 is managed by NOAA and provides forecasters with visible and infrared imagery of weather systems.
On June 1, the low pressure area called System 93L was located in the Atlantic Ocean just off Florida's northeastern coast. During the afternoon and evening on June 1, System 93L sped across the northern part of Florida at a speed of about 25 mph and entered the Gulf of Mexico where it continued to move west-southwest on June 2.
At 8 p.m. EDT on June 1, 2011, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted that System 93L had disorganized showers and thunderstorms and was located over the far northeastern Gulf of Mexico. The low pressure area had appeared elongated earlier in the day on GOES-13 visible satellite imagery and by 8 p.m. EDT it appeared to be more elongated indicating that it could not get organized. At that time, the NHC said that there was a 10 percent chance of it developing into a tropical depression, but hopes of organization were fading.
By 2:00 a.m. EDT on June 2, System 93L had moved into the north-central Gulf of Mexico, south of Louisiana. The NHC gave it a "near zero percent" chance of development at that time.
Six hours later at 8 a.m. EDT on June 2, the NHC said that System 93L still had a "near zero percent" chance of developing into a tropical depression. It was still producing showers and thunderstorms that extended several hundred miles south of the Louisiana coastline but environmental conditions aren't cooperating to enable further development. Meanwhile, System 93L will continue to speed through the Gulf of Mexico on a west-southwesterly track and residents of east Texas hope it will make it to them and bring some much needed rainfall.
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This visible image from the GOES-13 satellite on June 1 at 1445 UTC (10:45 a.m. EDT) shows the low pressure area off the northeastern Florida coast as a small rounded area of clouds. The circular shaded areas in the center are higher thunderstorms. Credit: NASA/GOES Project
Atlantic Hurricane Season Sticks to the Calendar: System 93L
Hurricane season starts today, June 1, in the Atlantic Ocean and the tropics are paying attention to the calendar. The GOES-13 satellite has been capturing images of a low pressure area that formed off the North Carolina coast yesterday and is now located off of the northeastern Florida coast.
The low pressure area, also known as System 93L appears somewhat elongated, almost rounded area of clouds on the satellite imagery today, stretching from southwest to northeast. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite called GOES-13 has been capturing imagery of the low since it formed. The visible image from June 1 at 1445 UTC (10:45 a.m. EDT) has some shadows in the middle of the storm, which indicate that there are some towering, strong thunderstorms near the circulation center that are casting shadows onto the lower thunderstorms.
NASA's GOES Project, located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. creates imagery and animations of GOES satellite data. The GOES series of satellites are operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. To see the latest animation of the GOES satellite imagery in "Hurricane Alley" in the Atlantic Ocean visit: http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov and click on "Hurricane Alley HDTV" on the top right side of the NASA GOES webpage.
At 8 a.m. EDT, the center of the low was about 200 miles east of Jacksonville, Florida and was moving west-southwest near 20 mph. It is forecast to move over northern Florida later today toward the Florida Panhandle. It has a medium chance of becoming the Atlantic hurricane season's first tropical depression in the next 24 hours.
The low does mean some scattered strong thunderstorms are in the forecast for northeastern Florida and isolated thunderstorms in southeastern Georgia today. The National Weather Service noted that some of the thunderstorms could contain wind gusts to 50 mph, small hail, frequent cloud to ground lightning and heavy rainfall.
In addition to the threat of severe thunderstorms, the low is also creating rip currents and building swells along the eastern Florida beaches. For updates, visit NASA's Hurricane Web Page at: www.nasa.gov/hurricane.
If the low does intensify into a tropical storm it would receive the name Arlene. However, it must first reach tropical depression status. Even if it doesn't become a depression it still means severe weather for northeastern Florida and southeastern Georgia today.