Bill To Tease New England, Remnants of Ana to be Watched

I am not in the studio today so no video update and I do not have access into looking at the WAAY 31 BAMS model but I still wanted to keep you up-to-date and provide my thoughts on the happenings in the Atlantic.

Hurricane Bill is a category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale with winds 105 MPH, gusts to 127 MPH, as of 10 AM CT Tuesday. It will likely be a category 3 hurricane, which would make it a major hurricane, by Wednesday morning. Air Force Hurricane Hunters are going to be doing recon flights around and through Bill this afternoon. A look at Bill on satellite shows a well defined eye.

A look at the modeling data this morning indicates that Bill will likely be a category 3 hurricane for several days and may even briefly peak as a category 4. The forecast tracks take Bill to the WNW through Friday keeping it to the north of the Leeward Islands. Here is a look at the GFDL model from Weather Underground.

A turn more northerly is then forecast through the weekend and then eventually to the northeast. This track keeps Bill east of the U.S. East Coast and then just south and east of New England. Those living in New England and the Canadian Maritimes should keep a close eye on this system as any shift westward could but these locations within the path of Bill early next week.

Ana is officially no longer being tracked as a depression and is just a large mass of showers and thunderstorms from the Bahamas to Jamaica. Even though it is now longer categorized as a depression and doesn't currently show signs of regeneration, I still would be cautious with this as it may try to follow Claudette's lead and quickly spin up into a Tropical Storm from basically nothing. I am thinking there is a possibility that a very similar situation could occur Thursday into Friday in the Gulf of Mexico. If things come together as I think they may. A tropical depression or possibly a tropical storm will move towards the Alabama/Florida coastline and follow a similar track as Claudette. If you live along the Gulf Coast you need to keep weather aware.

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