TD 9 is looking better tonight, though it is a little unclear as to where exactly the center is located -- as evidenced by the good discussion above. Continuity would place it just west of the current small blowup of convection, but there are signs of either multiple centers (with another to the north) or of the center reforming to the east. My best guess is that the center does agree with continuity and is just west of the convective blowup, while the "banding" feature you see is more indicative of the mid-level circulation. Still, it's an improvement. Dvorak estimates were very low with Franklin and it was categorized higher...ditto Harvey...and given the QuikSCAT pass from earlier and the current convective blowup, I think we have Irene on our hands...figure the NHC will concur at 5a. Nothing much to write home about, really, but another marker in the tallybook for this season.

As for storms looking better at night: it's due to a feature called the diurnal convective maximum. I can't explain it well, nor is there a very good explanation available online, but in general tropical convection tends to peak in the hours leading to daybreak (as opposed to continental convection, which tends to peak from mid-afternoon to sunset).