If necessary, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) will send a crew of meteorologists and scientists into the tropical wave (Invest 90L) on Friday.
NHC usually plans a reconnaissance flight to get that incredibly-vital information of what’s exactly happening inside a storm, or in this case, a tropical wave. Pilots fly into the weather system, conduct a “crisscross” pattern, try to find a center of circulation, collect observations of highest wind speed and lowest barometric pressure, and many other tests.
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In scenarios like this, the meteorologists will be looking to see if a center of circulation has formed within Invest 90L and if winds are high enough for tropical storm status (39 mph or greater).
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Here’s the tentative schedule for NHC flights and the possibility of formation:
- Friday at 2 a.m. ET: Tropical weather outlook is released
- Friday at 8 a.m. ET: Tropical weather outlook is released
- Friday around 1 p.m. ET Reconnaissance flight takes place
If the storm develops, hurricane hunters will fly into it every six hours. If not, there is another tentative flight scheduled for Saturday morning.
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Forecast models continue to show the center of this potential storm moving north and possibly northwest, closer to the northern Gulf Coast states by Sunday and Monday.
It is important not to focus solely on the track, but the widespread impacts. In this case, flooding appears to be the biggest hazard to the Gulf Coast states.
Stay with WeatherNation for the very latest.
For WeatherNation, Meteorologist Steve Glazier