TROPICAL STORM

Earl unfurls; heat moving back in

Jim Bradshaw

August 18, 2004

LAFAYETTE — Good weather news: It looks as though Earl will continue to dissipate and present no threat to Acadiana or anybody.

Bad weather news: The system that has brought record cool weather for August is about to dissipate also.

August is about to become August again.

“The remnants of Tropical Storm Earl are expected to move westward rapidly over Central America, primarily Honduras, and further development, if any, will be limited by land,” said Luxion Avila of the National Hurricane Center.

According to an NHC analysis, Earl can still gust up to gale force winds, but that’s about as strong as it will get.

“Given the lack of organization and the rather fast motion of this wave, significant rainfall amounts are unlikely” as the storm moves into Central America, the NHC analysis says.

Closer to home, the National Weather Service predicts that the cool, dry system that has camped over Acadiana for the past week “will continue to lose its grip across the area. ... Moisture levels will begin returning to more seasonal values, along with warmer temperatures.”

High temperatures across Acadiana are expected to move from the 80s back into the 90s and overnight lows to move from the 60s into the 70s during the next several days.

The wetter air will also bring about greater chances for the afternoon thunderstorms that typically pop up on hot August afternoons.

©The Lafayette Daily Advertiser

Tropical Storm Earl Follows on Charley's Path

Sat Aug 14, 2004 07:32 PM ET

MIAMI (Reuters) - While Florida tallied the devastation from Hurricane Charley, two more tropical storms gathered strength in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday.

Tropical Storm Earl took aim at the Windward Islands and was expected to grow into a hurricane as it spun across the Caribbean sea toward western Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico.

The five-day forecast issued by the U.S. National Hurricane Center put Earl on a path similar to Charley's, with the storm approaching the Gulf of Mexico by Thursday. But forecasters cautioned it was too soon to predict where it would go from there.

"The projections out that far can have large errors," said hurricane center meteorologist Dan Brown.

Tropical storm warnings were posted on Saturday for the Caribbean islands of Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and St. Lucia, alerting residents to expect storm conditions within 24 hours and prepare for up to 5 inches (13 cm) of rain.

Earl was about 375 miles east-southeast of Barbados, near latitude 10.8 north and longitude 54.5 west. It had top sustained winds of 40 mph and was moving west-northwest at 24 mph.

Its current path could later threaten Cuba, where four people died and 1,129 houses were destroyed by Hurricane Charley, and Jamaica, where one man died in flooding wrought by Charley.

The other tropical storm, Danielle, was far out in the Atlantic about 300 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands and was expected to curve to the northwest on a path that would keep it far away from land.

Danielle had top winds of 65 mph (104 kph) and was expected to reach hurricane strength of 74 mph by Sunday.

The Atlantic-Caribbean hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 but is typically busiest in August and September.

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

Tropical Storm Earl Fades to Tropical Wave

Mon Aug 16, 2004 11:33 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Earl faded to a tropical wave early Monday over the central Caribbean Sea, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

As of 11 a.m. EDT, Earl was packing winds near 45 mph as it moved west-northwest near 25 mph.

There was no closed circulation center of the storm, the NHC said. However, conditions were favorable for the wave to re-intensify into a tropical storm during the next few days as it heads for the western Caribbean.

Posted on Sun, Aug. 15, 2004

TROUBLE IN THE TROPICS
Tropical Storm Earl may threaten islands

BY MARTIN MERZER

mmerzer@herald.com

Tropical Storm Earl formed Saturday in the Caribbean, and forecasters -- already busy with the remnants of Charley -- said everyone in the hurricane zone should keep an eye on it.

The new system remained far from Florida and posed no immediate danger to the state.

Long-range forecasts, subject to large margins of error, carried Earl through the outer rim of the Caribbean today and pointed it toward the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba. Earl was expected to become a hurricane Monday as it moved toward those large islands.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Trinidad and other islands.

''Interests around the eastern Caribbean Sea should closely monitor the progress of this system,'' said Richard Pasch of the National Hurricane Center in West Miami-Dade County.

Tropical Storm Danielle grew into a hurricane Saturday night in the distant Atlantic, but forecasters said it posed no threat to land.

HURRICANE CHARLEY