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fredhopkinsiii
01-31-2011, 05:11 AM
In the face of severe cold over most of the US this week comes news of Tropical Cyclone Yasi expected to be a Cat 4 and tracking towards Queensland Austrailia

Queensland bracing for monster tropical cyclone Yasi

Posted on January 31, 2011 (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/01/31/tropical-cyclone-yasi/) by Ryan Maue (http://wattsupwiththat.com/author/ryanmaue/)
http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/sh1111.gif (http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/sh1111.gif)JTWC Warning Graphic for Yasi

Flood ravaged Queensland is preparing for a monstrous South Pacific Ocean Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Forecast to reach Category 4+ strength on the familiar Saffir-Simpson scale, there really is nothing inhibiting this storm from explosively intensifying and reaching 135 knots+ in terms of sustained winds. Ocean heat content (http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/products/tc_realtime/storm.asp?storm_identifier=SH112011) below Yasi is high and sufficient to maintain a very intense TC. As the USA deals with the upcoming blizzard with a couple feet of snow forecast for the Midwest, the ongoing Southern Hemisphere summer produces tropical cyclones. In terms of history, Yasi will likely be compared to Cyclone Larry (2006) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Larry)which made landfall somewhat north of the forecast track of Yasi. However, the circulation of Yasi is considerably larger and, if it maintains it intensity until landfall, could be one of the strongest and largest TCs to make landfall in Australia in the past century.
Forecasting and Predictability note: The ECMWF (http://www.ecmwf.int/) forecast model has been consistently forecasting a major tropical cyclone near or over Queensland on Feb 3 for the last 7-days: Link to last 14-Forecast Cycles (http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/%7Emaue/tropical/plots/ec_yasi.html). This demonstration of 10-day TC track skill is quite impressive.
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/mtsat/flt/t1/avn-l.jpg (http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/mtsat/flt/t1/avn-l.jpg)MTSAT Floater (IR)




From wattsupwiththat at http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/01/31/tropical-cyclone-yasi/

Texas SpeedDiva
01-31-2011, 10:07 AM
Some of the same areas recently affected by the massive flooding.

fredhopkinsiii
01-31-2011, 02:15 PM
Some of the same areas recently affected by the massive flooding.

Why the post caught my attention was that the Brisbane local government wouldn't allow the dams to release water because they believed in Global Warming and that they were going to have "Severe Water Shortages"

fredhopkinsiii
02-01-2011, 08:17 PM
updates with a useful graphic - Storm reached Aussie Cat 5, not the same as Safir-Simpson

http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/graphs/storms/yasi-us-australia-crop.gif

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/02/01/snowzilla-and-the-strikeyeti-yasi/#more-32934

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/02/01/australia-braces-for-cyclone-yasi-as-it-hits-categotry-5/

http://joannenova.com.au/2011/02/yasi-2011-cyclonic-force-of-nature/