On October 8, a non-tropical low pressure center formed along the western edge of a dissipating frontal boundary situated west-southwest to east-northeast across the western Atlantic ocean. When the low formed, it was located a few hundred miles off the North Carolina coastline. It moved north-northeastward over the next few days, deepened some, and absorbed another disturbance approaching from the south. Steering currents collapsed on October 10 and the system became almost stationary east of the mid-Atlantic coastline. Even as a non-tropical system, it brought dangerous ocean conditions and strong winds to the coastline, especially southern New England. There was not much in the way of rainfall associated with the low at first, but convection increased in a curved band north of the center early on October 11. Shortly afterward, the disturbance was classified Subtropical Storm Melissa, already with maximum winds of 65 mph and a central pressure of 995 mb.
That day, the cyclone drifted slowly southward, but soon westerly flow steered Melissa east and caused it to accelerate some away from the U.S. coastline. The structure changed some by October 12, with convection moving closer to the center of circulation. The structural change necessitated a reclassification of Melissa as a tropical storm. As the cyclone moved east, it encountered more hostile atmospheric conditions, which stripped away most of the thunderstorm activity. Melissa weakened into October 13. These trends continued until the cyclone became extratropical on October 14.
The above image shows Melissa after transitioning to a tropical storm on October 12. During this transition, the windfield contracted significantly, leaving a small area of central convection
Melissa formed near the east coast but moved away without affecting land.
No comments:
Post a Comment