Monday, August 29, 2011

Tropical Storm Jose (2011)

Storm Active: August 28-29

On August 19, a tropical wave moved off of Africa, and was immediately monitored for development upon leaving the coast. A broad low pressure system quickly formed in conjunction with the wave, and convection increased, but despite favorable conditions, no closed circulation formed as the system passed near the Cape Verde Island on August 20. The low's circulation became elongated during the day of August 21, and it moved northwest, into cooler waters. THe system did not dissipate, however, and still produced some shower activity over the next few days. The low elongated further on August 25, and degenerated into a trough of low pressure. This trough interacted with another to its west, and a weak low formed from this union on August 27, now located south-southeast of Bermuda. The low deepened and moved generally northwest, but very high shear from the outflow of Hurricane Irene ripped convection from the low faster than it could form. Despite these extremely hostile conditions to tropical development, the circulation, although being nearly devoid of convection, became closed, and gale force winds in the low's southeast quadrant caused it to be named Tropical Storm Jose during the morning of August 28.

Due to its proximity to Bermuda, a tropical storm warning was issued there. Against all odds, Jose's southern side developed some deep convection that afternoon and the system strengthened slightly as it moved north, past Bermuda, and reached its peak intensity of 45 mph winds and a central pressure of 1007 mb. Overnight, Jose accelerated northward and was weakening by the morning of August 29, as it encountered cooler waters. By later that day, the circulation no longer existed, and Jose dissipated, downgraded to a trough of low pressure. In the wake of Jose, to its south, large areas of thunderstorms appeared near Bermuda for the remainder of the day, partly having their origin in tropical moisture from the cyclone, which was displaced to the south by shear. Therefore, Jose indirectly caused some minimal damage to Bermuda.



Track of Jose.

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