Shuttle Lands In California
Updated 2PM - Original 09:03 AM EDT - 01 May 2001

Updated 2PM:

This afternoon we find even more uncertainty with this spin off system. Best guess is some sort of center forming near the weekend off the coast of Ponce Inlet. This center is unrelated to what's out there now, and is a combination of the unusually large high on the north side an upper level system going southeast along with our trof. This little area of instability will give us the best shot of rain tomorrow night (just a guess), but then will pull itself together into this center offshore. Gale or no, we could see some strong winds and possible erosion. A nasty weekend for beach plans if nothing else. I must state nothing in this viewpoint I am certain of, execpt for the uncertainty.

Original Update:

Since the weather here has been iffy at best, the Endeavour mission STS-100 will be landing at Edwards Air Force Base instead of Kennedy Space Center.

Why? Our friend the trof to the south. Still not a closed system, but may wind up becoming that as the week goes on.

What's the latest thinking? Well rain will drift in from the east coast on occasion, but there won't be any widespread rain today. The trof actually is through the Gulf of Mexico into the northwest Caribbean and trying to spin off something in the Bahamas. If anything happens (AVN especially wants this to it seems), it will be most likely a non-tropical gale. The effect will be minimal right now, beyond some showers and cloudy weather.

However, I'm still not sure that the AVN is correct, the Gale may not form. It not forming is the more likely solution right now, so I'm leaning that way at the moment. The general shear in the area will help this.

Still it's worth some passive watching.