LI Phil brought up something that i'd like to bring attention....
anybody who watches the tropics who wants to keep ahead of the game ought to keep an eye on the dvorak ratings. probably most of the people here know this stuff already, but for the newbies and others... ssd is one of the sub-agencies within noaa that nhc refers to when deciding how to rate tropical systems (in lieu of direct measurements).
go to http://www.ssd.noaa.gov and scroll down to position and intensity. it's self explanatory.
everything runs on a .5 incremental scale. the nhc doesn't classify everything being tracked/rated, usually bumps systems to depression when they put up a 2.0. 1.5s usually don't get depression status (though many likely technically qualify, as what constitutes a weak tropical depression is vague).
at 2.5 you've got a weak tropical storm, 3.0 moderate, 3.5 strong, and 4.0 you've got a minor hurricane. anything past 5.5 is very powerful (7 and up are extreme).
if you've noticed the info tab at nrl monterrey that hangs over a satelite photo of an invest/storm, it usually contains data that match a particular dvorak rating. i'm not sure whether it's an in-house thing or if they get theirs from sab, or ssd, or what. regardless it's usually in agreement with whatever other agencies are saying. want to know how your invest is doing? there's another tool.
a'ite, nuff said. ed, if this belongs in the storm forum, by all means throw your magic switch and let it fall through the trapdoor.
HF 1845z22may