| wxman007 |
| (Meteorologist) |
| Tue Aug 19 2008 11:18 AM |
Re: Fay stronger at landfall then thought.
|
Quote:
What are the chances of Fay forming an eye over land? The reason I ask is because I was always told tropical storms and hurricanes can not strengthen or form over land. I'll attach an image of the latest radar with what I think to be looking like an eye forming. Is this at all possible to be forming into a hurricane while over land? If this is not an eye forming, then what is it?
Storms just don't collapse when they hit land. Fay was in a strengthening phase when it made landfall...if it had had about 4 more hours it likely would have become a hurricane. Because Fay got her act together and developed a good inner core, you are seeing the results of that now...Fay is holding her own quite well over land. What you are seeing is, indeed, an eye...it doesn't mean the storm is strengthening, however, it just mean the processes that began offshore are continuing.
A couple of other points...South Florida is very flat and very wet...the landmass doesn't make that big of a difference there, so storms are slow to weaken over S Fl. I have seen storms which didn't weaken at all over that area, and a couple which looked better after crossing S FL, although that is Very, Very rare.