Monday, August 26, 2019

Tropical Storm Erin (2019)

Storm Active: August 26-29

On August 21, an trough of low pressure near the eastern Bahamas began to produce a scattered area of shower and thunderstorm activity. It moved slowly west-northwestward, but developed only slowly due to wind shear. Just as the storm became more concentrated on August 23, the newly formed low pressure center moved over southern Florida. The land interaction temporarily hampered further progress toward tropical depression status and most rainfall remained offshore to the east. Within another day, the system felt the tug of an approaching cold front and turned northeast, emerging over water once again. The low pressure center remained elongated, though, and westerly shear kept the western half of the circulation dry. Nevertheless, Tropical Depression Six formed during the afternoon of August 26, well offshore of North Carolina. At that time, Six had slowed to a near standstill due to the influence of nearby mid-level high pressure systems.

For the next day, the cyclone moved little and the circulation center remained exposed to the northwest of the cloud cover. Nevertheless, it became a little more organized on August 27 and was upgraded to Tropical Storm Erin. That night, it picked up speed toward the north under the influence of an upper-level trough and passed about halfway in between Bermuda and the coast of North Carolina. Shear increased again and Erin weakened back to a tropical depression on August 28. The circulation began to lose definition too. By the morning of the 29th, Erin had started to merge with a nearby front and became post-tropical.

The above image shows Tropical Depression Six just before being upgraded to a tropical storm.



Erin did not affect any landmasses, but its remnants eventually brought heavy rainfall to Atlantic Canada.

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