stuff from yesterday... looks like the eastern/central gulf options are becoming more favored by the models and officially by the nhc. the uncertainties remain in how much the ridge decays to let the storm up (not much run to run consistency on that point), and a new one today: why is intensity guidance weakening the storm over the central gulf? i think that may be a model fluke with the upper ridging (i.e., the storm will be generating a good bit) and exactly where the upper low to the west ends up after tailing into the western gulf.
the only good thing i can see in the long range is that while ernesto may become quite powerful as it crosses the high heat region in the central gulf, there's a lot of zonal shear over the u.s. and it extends down very close to the coast. again, it may or may not be a fluke, but the gfs pushing the ridging away and developing southwesterly shear over the region the storm would be in could signify another instance (like with katrina, ivan, etc..) where shear helps spin down an intense hurricane to where the winds aren't strong enough to totally demolish structures.. but that doesn't do much for surge potential.
with more of the models showing a weakness over the southeast i'm more comfortable degrading the threat to areas further west, i.e. texas and the western half of louisiana. still don't see any reason it would curve sharply enough to impact peninsular florida. i can't really say anything makes sense besides the area shown in the nhc cone. noticed their late trend in the last advisory is to turn the storm more sharply near the end of the run.. and they usually drag the forecast track over gradually, which implies they might take it a little further later today (unless a bunch of models flip back further west).
i'll set my first thrat swath from grand isle to cedar key. the region of emphasis is the florida panhandle. likely threat range is a category 2-3 hurricane at landfall. time centered during the afternoon on friday, september 1.
elsewhere...
that little low on the decaying front off georgia is still there today. in a shear zone and not serving as much of a convective focal point right now... upper ridging should dominate the area by tomorrow, so if it keeps popping convection, might merit more interest. probably won't move much... out to sea is most likely in the long run.
debby is now forecast to die before being absorbed by a front. might make a little resurgence, but never got near as strong as i thought it would.
low from a washed out tropical wave moving off africa is broad but well defined. going to move through a fairly dry area with marginal ssts.. not likely to do much developing for the next couple days. if it can maintain definition further west, could enter the mix as something down the road. tis the season.
another decent wave will come off sunday or monday.
HF 1550z26august