Tropical Depression Takes Hold Off Coast of North Carolina

Posted: June 14, 2021 4:05 pm

Forecasters Train Eyes on Atlantic Basin as Hurricane Season Gets Underway

Tropical Depression Two may end up being the second named storm of the season if it continues to intensify as it churns off of the coast of North Carolina.

Details of New Tropical Development: This particular depression rapidly strengthened on Monday morning, just two weeks into the official start of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. This system was spinning about 100 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, by mid-day Monday. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the depression is packing maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. The storm is moving in a northeasterly direction at about 20 mph.

How Will the Depression Affect the US: The good news is that because of the position and trajectory of this system, it is not going to deliver a direct threat to the US. However, the moving storm will churn up the waters in the Atlantic Ocean, possibly creating disruptions to the shipping and fishing industries. In addition, the system is expected to pass to the east of the New England coastline. When this happens on Tuesday, the surf in Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and eastern Massachusetts may intensify.

By Wednesday, the system is predicted to bring periods of moderate rainfall and breezy conditions to Nova Scotia.

Cool Waters Will Spell Demise for Storm: While the warm ocean waters of the Gulf Stream have provided rich conditions for the system to grow over the past few days, this period of intensification is about to come to an end. The system will likely have a short window of time to continue its development before it moves farther to the north, encountering cooler waters. This drop in ocean temperature will serve to break up the storm.

Additionally, the storm will lose even more steam as the jet stream drops to the south and brings gusty winds along with it. The system will gradually transition from a tropical feature to one with non-tropical characteristics as it continues to encounter cold water and wind shear.

Additional Tropical Developments of Note: The disturbance off of the East Coast is not the only system on the radar of the NHC. Forecasters have also been busy tracking the potential of tropical storm development in the western Gulf of Mexico. This is particularly worrisome because any potential storms in this region could bring heavy rainfall to the already flooded upper Gulf Coast.

Another disturbance is currently churning over the eastern section of the Caribbean on Monday. This feature is expected to crawl to the west as the week continues. There is another feature that just developed off of the west coast of Africa in the last few days. While this system is still far out, it could potentially move toward the Windward and Leeward island by the weekend.

‘Tis the Season: This is the time of the year when the action in the Atlantic basin really begins to heat up. Experts believe that it is entirely possible that a named tropical storm or two could erupt over the coming weeks. The next names on the list of 2021 tropical storms are Bill, Claudette, and Danny.

Recent Posts