Perspectives of a Canadian in the Old/Deep/New/Geographic South: This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular and post a few nice pictures.
I have some serious lawn work to do.
NOAA‘s 2005 hurricane forecast is out and it looks like it’s going to be another busy season this year.
This year’s storm names: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Dennis, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irene, Jose, Katrina, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rita, Stan, Tammy, Vince, Wilma
Some of the highlights:
For the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season the ACE index is expected to be in the range of 120%-190% of the median. The outlook also calls for 12-15 tropical storms, with 7-9 becoming hurricanes, and 3-5 of these becoming major hurricanes [categories 3-4-5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale]. While it is reasonable to expect this range of tropical storms and hurricanes, the total seasonal activity measured by the ACE index can certainly be in the predicted range without all three of these criteria being met.
Over the North Atlantic, key aspects of the multi-decadal signal expected during the 2005 hurricane season include 1) lower surface air pressure, warmer SSTs, and increased moisture across the central and eastern tropical Atlantic, 2) an amplified subtropical ridge at upper levels across the central and eastern North Atlantic, 3) reduced vertical wind shear in the deep tropics over the central North Atlantic, which results from an expanded area of easterly winds in the upper atmosphere (green arrows) and weaker easterly trade winds in the lower atmosphere (dark blue arrows), and 4) a configuration of the African easterly jet (wavy light blue arrow) that favors hurricane development from tropical disturbances moving westward from the African coast.
Based on the most recent ENSO outlook issued by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, ENSO-neutral conditions are expected in the tropical Pacific through at least the first half of the hurricane season. Therefore, the ENSO phenomenon is not expected to impact this hurricane season.
Make sure you’re ready for the season!
Several dozen signatures and initials, lots of money and an hour later, we are now homeowners! Our first house, at long last. But it’ll be a few weeks before we actually move in. Moving day isn’t going to be until after the wife’s final exams, which are next week.
So now it’s time to start packing everything up.
We go to closing this afternoon, and with the exception of the wedding (and most of that was spread out in relatively small amounts), I will be dropping the largest amount of money I have ever spent into someone else’s hands in just a few short hours.
Nala’s picking up a few names as she grows up. Sometimes I’ll just call her Dog, the wife calls her Sweetpea occasionally. The latest one she’s picked up is Nala Sockthief. She’s developed a penchant for nabbing our socks. She’ll come walking up out of the blue with a sock dangling from her mouth, which we then have to pry away from her. A few times we’ve caught her nibbling on one of our socks after she’s snuck into the bedroom. This morning she came walking up to me with one of the wife’s socks dangling from her mouth which, according to my wife, she pulled out from underneath the sliding closet door.
This dog is just too much. The sock thing we’re going to work on stopping before she decides that they’re edible. The Sock Gods have already received enough sock sacrifices from us out of the dryer. The last thing we need is another sock black hole for them to disappear into.