Tropical Storm Arthur Formed This Weekend Past
By Gannon Medwick
Monday, June 02, 2008
If you blinked, you missed it! Arthur, the first named tropical storm of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season, formed late this past Saturday. Arthur’s story, though short, is an interesting one.
Last week, the low pressure system that was to become Arthur was actually Alma, the first tropical storm of the 2008 Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season. Rainy Alma came ashore in Central America late last week and had crossed that relatively thin strip of land early this past weekend.
By Saturday afternoon, Alma’s remnant low pressure system had encountered just enough warm, western Caribbean Sea water to regenerate tropically. This time, however, the tropical storm would be given an Atlantic name: Arthur.
Arthur didn’t stay over water long, and its winds never strengthened beyond minimal tropical storm levels. By Sunday, Arthur had come ashore again, this time on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Today, Arthur is a remnant low pressure system. It’s torrential rains are soaking southern Mexico.
Even though Arthur was a weak storm, and even though it will have no impact on the United States, its formation was nonetheless remarkable. Arthur reminded us of the official arrival of this year’s Hurricane Season. The next storm name for the 2008 season is Bertha, but the tropical Atlantic Basin is again quiet and I see no signs of Bertha forming.
Thanks for staying with Storm Team 9 throughout the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season. The final airing of Storm Team 9’s TV hurricane special, “Ahead of the Storm 2008”, happens tonight at 7 on WNCT Channel 9. I hope you’ll tune in!
COMMENTS
Gannon
Great Hurricane program - it put together a lot of info we often get in short pieces. You and you colleagues did a fine job. Question: there seem to be a lot more “named storms” these days; has the requirement to get a name been changed over the years? I am old enough to remember hurricane Hazel, and I do not recall names being applied to any storms that did not reach hurricane strength. The rest were just “gales” or “nor’easters” Perhaps we have “name inflation” along with economic inflation, grade inflation, etc.!
Thanks for the nice words about our hurricane special, Richard.
To my knowledge, ever since the naming of tropical cyclones began, names were given to tropical storms (these systems feature sustained winds of 39-73mph). Nor’easters are non-tropical, or cold core, storms and do not, nor have they ever gotten, official names.
To your point about “name inflation"…
Since the advent of weather satellites (late 1960s), meteorologists can more easily spot tropical storms. Before satellites, some tropical storms (especially weaker ones) surely went unnoticed by the meteorological community (say, if a storm formed away from ocean shipping lanes). Today, more noticed storms = more named storms.
It does seem like more “subtropical” storms (that is, storms with tropical and non-tropical characteristics) are getting names recently. It is my opinion that some of these systems, like Andrea of last year, may not have been named decades ago.
Thanks again for the nice words and thanks for watching 9!