First tropical storm of 2013 season . . .

Hurricane season here begins June 1st, so it is kind of an honor I suppose (although not one I particularly had wished for) to be able to announce that the first tropical storm of the 2013 season (tropical storm Andrea) should make landfall right about where my boat is tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon or evening. Life is fixing to get interesting.

John

It doesn't have full rotation the last time I looked. I wouldn't be concerned.

beachbum29 said:

It doesn't have full rotation the last time I looked. I wouldn't be concerned.

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It is best to always be concerned. So an early morning trip down to the marina, extra ropes on the boat. Winds are probably not going to be all that high (45 knots or so) but possibly a tide 4' above normal

jwnall said:

It is best to always be concerned. So an early morning trip down to the marina, extra ropes on the boat. Winds are probably not going to be all that high (45 knots or so) but possibly a tide 4' above normal

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If you look winds are generally blowing to the east-northeast. Possibly a blow out low tide?

Stay tuned to be sure.

Um, maybe. It is moving N-NE, so the counter-clockwise circulation may heap the water up into the St. Marks River as it goes by there, which will of course affect me. An early morning check at the National Hurricane Center website is certainly in order for tomorrow morning!

jwnall said:

Um, maybe. It is moving N-NE, so the counter-clockwise circulation may heap the water up into the St. Marks River as it goes by there, which will of course affect me. An early morning check at the National Hurricane Center website is certainly in order for tomorrow morning!

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The last I looked, there is no rotation. Everything is being pushed out to the east-northeast.

Am I incorrect?

As a EC central Fl lifelong resident I’m concerned about it.

I’ve already removed the bimini from the little DeFever and doubled up the lines.

My boat is at my house, a residential canal, which BoatUS says is the safest place in FL.

It’s early, this is a weak storm - call it practice.

Mike

beachbum29 said:

The last I looked, there is no rotation. Everything is being pushed out to the east-northeast.

Am I incorrect?

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I am not saying that you are incorrect. I cannot tell from the discussion at the National Hurricane Center whether there is any rotation or not. If you are correct, then of course we will not have a surge here, or at least nothing to worry about anyway. I hope that you are correct. The 5 AM report from the NHC will hopefully give me more data to work with.

jwnall said:

I am not saying that you are incorrect. I cannot tell from the discussion at the National Hurricane Center whether there is any rotation or not. If you are correct, then of course we will not have a surge here, or at least nothing to worry about anyway. I hope that you are correct. The 5 AM report from the NHC will hopefully give me more data to work with.

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Look at the radar and see if there's a 360 degree rotation.

I haven't looked in a few hours.

Sure doesn't look like any rotation on the radar, I have to agree.

Just because there is no rotation does not mean there will be no tide. The tide comes with the wind...regardless of rotation. If you have any sort of onshore wind at a high rate of speed, you will get a higher than normal tide.a 45 knot tropical system could likely bring 3-5 foot of tide and if you are in an area where the land constricts the way, it could be more. Just a thought.

Could be. But if the system if moving to the East, and there is no rotation, then the chance of the water backing up in the river becomes less. And in this case, less is better.

Pretty sure a named storm has to have rotation..otherwise it's just a bad weather system

From Nat Hurricane Center

Tropical Storm: A tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph (34 to 63 knots).

A tropical cyclone is a rotating, organized system of clouds and thunderstorms that originates over tropical or subtropical waters and has a closed low-level circulation. Tropical cyclones rotate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. They are classified as follows:

Hurricane formation requires an initiating weather disturbance, something with a little spin to spark the beginnings of development. Hurricanes don't just magically appear over the fuel of warm waters where there's no impediment from strong vertical wind shear.

Baker is correct though...any high wind flow will affect tide

I have noted in the last 10-15 years that they are a little more inclined to call something a tropical depression...storm...hurricane than they have in the past. I don't know if it is a sensational thing or what....maybe just to put people in a higher level of caution. Or the equipment on the hurricane hunters is better at gathering data. Who knows...but they just seem a little bit more excitable over there these days.

Now they name storms that are not initially tropical in nature

Looks like it is heading close to St Marks.
Here is a pretty good site with lots of info, check out the discussion heading.
Click here: Tropical Storm Andrea : Forecast Discussion : Weather Underground

Rotation or not seems there will be winds and a surge heading that way.
get her ready and good luck.

They're saying 2-4' storm surge in big bend area of Florida.

It does appear to be forming more of a rotation now, but not fully closed

Looks like will blow through Oriental, NC tomorrow. But calling for 40mph winds. Blowy, but not hurricane. Barely TS force if holds.

It certainly has some rotation now, and looks as if landfall will probably be somewhat to the East of St. Marks late this afternoon. But the "bad side" of it is going to be away from me. The boat is well tied and in a good slip (steel pilings) in a marina up the St. Marks River. I'll take a run down there this morning just to check on things, but do not think it will be any major problem. Also, landfall will be around the time of a low tide, which helps.

Here in Stuart on the Okeechobee Waterway, we're watching a plethora of Tornado spin-offs coming through and around the Lake area, but only a few confirmations of twisters on the ground. Something went through here this morning and took my deck chairs. The storm surprised the weather service in it's strength so far. What I'm afraid of is that the Army Corps of Engineers will do another dump of Lake water like they did in the last storm, and we'll end up with a super tide here on the river. At least the wind won't be opposing the tide this time.

healhustler said:

Here in Stuart on the Okeechobee Waterway, we're watching a plethora of Tornado spin-offs coming through and around the Lake area, but only a few confirmations of twisters on the ground. Something went through here this morning and took my deck chairs. The storm surprised the weather service in it's strength so far. What I'm afraid of is that the Army Corps of Engineers will do another dump of Lake water like they did in the last storm, and we'll end up with a super tide here on the river. At least the wind won't be opposing the tide this time.

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My boat is down there in the St Lucie yard. Hope its ok.

Even though Miami and the Keys are getting it now, the worst is over here in Stuart. Skies are clearing and no rain for the last hour. I'm sure your boat is OK Beach Bum.

jwnall, everything ok in St Marks?

Steve said:

jwnall, everything ok in St Marks?

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Yeah, everything is fine. The worst of Andrea was to the ESE of us. So dodged another bullet, and am thankful. When I was a kid, living in Pensacola, I used to look forward to hurricanes because of all the excitement. I do not look forward to them now.

John

We were planning a run down the Pamlico River and across to Ocracoke Island yesterday, for the annual music festival. Needless to say, we're still tied up at home.

3.3" of rain since midnight, but winds only around 30 kts so far.

John that boat has been through an impressive list of storms. A little one like that wont bother it. It's tough!

Dougcole said:

John that boat has been through an impressive list of storms. A little one like that wont bother it. It's tough!

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I always worry, though. As we both know, sometimes those little storms can suddenly strengthen unexpectedly (usually in the middle of the night!). The way that I have it tied in the slip it is kept pretty much in the middle. The downside of that is that there is not a lot of slack in the lines for a sudden rise in the river level. I've taken tide changes into account, but not a storm surge.

Anyway, all is well, and we get the dubious honor of having the first named storm of the season, for whatever that may be worth (probably not much).

BTW, I see that you have the Mainship on your profile now. Congrats!