"… if Florence weakens, the storm will tend to be steered by the atmospheric flow at lower levels of the atmosphere, which favors a more west-northwesterly track," Accuweather reported late Tuesday. East Coast could see an impact in seven days or so. It will be this weekend before forecasters know for sure if Florence will threaten land next week but odds, albeit slight, have been increasing that the U.S. The storm was expected all along to recurve, avoiding land, but models won't let go of a more westerly track. "The ECMWF model track forecast has shifted significantly toward the left this evening, closer to the other global models and their ensemble means, indicating less steering influence from the predicted growing weakness in the subtropical ridge," the NHC said in an advisory Wednesday.įlorence is the third Atlantic hurricane of 2018. impact since the NHC said it has adjusted the Hurricane Florence forecast track "to the left." Overnight, the National Hurricane Center said that a subtropical ridge is weakening that could have steered Florence out to sea, away from land interests, on a recurve - increasing odds of U.S. that much more certainty of when-and where- the next hurricane might strike.Hurricane Florence is expected to track more to the left in the Atlantic in the latest forecast update, increasing odds that it may impact the United States East Coast.Ī strengthening category 2 storm with winds of 105, Florence is still far out in the Atlantic away from land, but the storm merits close observation because it could impact or hit Bermuda, before taking a path to the left toward the United States next week. Such a network would give coastal residents here in the U.S. Gliders are just one more tool scientists use to improve forecasts of hurricane strength and direction, and researchers hope that one day they can launch a fleet of the underwater drones into the western Atlantic Ocean to build a three-dimensional picture of deep-sea conditions. We are hoping the gliders can track these events.” It could have a potential impact on near bottom benthic communities and potentially fisheries. “If you end up with a massive firehose of stuff, you can get hypoxia,” Edwards said. That in turn can cause low oxygen “dead zones” in the ocean that threaten valuable commercial fishing grounds. When Florence dumps tons more rainwater on land (current forecasts call for up to 30 inches in some areas), agricultural runoff, animal waste, and sediment flows out to sea. That armada includes at least a dozen Earth-orbiting satellites, hurricane hunter aircraft, and moored ocean buoys.Īlready, Edwards says, the gliders are picking up large amounts of freshwater and sediment that has flowed from the coastal Carolinas offshore in recent days. Now, these gliders are part of the scientific armada probing Hurricane Florence for data in an effort to help forecasters understand its trajectory and strength. Normally, these torpedo-like gliders travel up and down the East Coast and Caribbean mapping the ocean currents that influence short-term weather, long-term climate change, and marine life. But even if Florence maintains a safe distance, Edwards will still have an intimate view of the weather: she's tracking the hurricane's path with a remote-controlled underwater ocean glider.Įdwards, an assistant professor of marine sciences at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, is one of dozens of marine scientists who are gathering data about hurricanes with a new tool: a six-foot long underwater drone, known as a Slocum glider, which carries sensors to measure ocean heat, salinity, and density. When Hurricane Florence makes landfall on the North Carolina coastline this week, Catherine Edwards will be hoping the super-storm doesn’t veer toward her home in Savannah, Georgia.
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