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83 comments on Rita Old Comment Thread 1 (Rita graphic now moved up closer to the top)

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fatbear on September 21, 2005 - 3:15pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Maybe that means that the GOM waters have cooled a bit.

There has been some comment that Katrina riled up the GOMEX waters to such an extent that the very deep cool water has been drawn to the surface and might have moderated surface energy avails.

I'm no scientist, so who knows what to believe....

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Ben on September 21, 2005 - 3:22pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I'm not a scientist, either, but there is more that affects a hurricane's size and strength than just water temperature.  I'm sure there are several other variables that have changed between these two storms.

That said, water temps are still really high all across the gulf, which is why both these storms are able to gain so much strength (compared to, say, Ophelia)

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fatbear on September 21, 2005 - 4:14pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Here's an interesting map from the NHC - it shows water surface temperature anomalies - notice that the Upper East quadrant of GOMEX is cooler than normal, obviously caused by the eastern wind wall of Katrina - the rest of GOMEX seems to be at expected or slightly warmer temps

(presumably the warm water up near Nova Scotia is the result of Ophelia's rain, as the map is 4 days old)

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Ben on September 21, 2005 - 4:19pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Here's a map from the Navy from yesterday, just for comparison.
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wadosy on September 21, 2005 - 9:04pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
you know that the deathwish christians are gonna be expecting to be sucked out of their socks pretty quick if they spot that little cross-shaped patch of hot water, don't you?

it's south at about 40W lat.

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83 comments on Rita Old Comment Thread 1 (Rita graphic now moved up closer to the top)

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