Barry has formed...

[rdale]

...per NHC conference call. No details quite yet.

[rdale]

TROPICAL STORM BARRY ADVISORY NUMBER 1
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL022007
500 PM EDT FRI JUN 01 2007

...TROPICAL STORM BARRY FORMS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO...

AT 5 PM EDT...2100 UTC... A TROPICAL STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED
FOR THE WEST COAST OF FLORIDA FROM BONITA BEACH NORTHWARD TO KEATON
BEACH...AND A TROPICAL STORM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FROM NORTH OF
KEATON BEACH TO ST. MARKS. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT
TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA
WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS AND A TROPICAL STORM WATCH MEANS THAT
TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH
AREA...GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE
INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AT 500 PM EDT...2100Z...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM BARRY WAS
LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 24.2 NORTH...LONGITUDE 85.5 WEST OR ABOUT 320
MILES...520 KM...SOUTHWEST OF TAMPA FLORIDA AND ABOUT 235 MILES...
375 KM...WEST OF KEY WEST FLORIDA.

BARRY IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH NEAR 12 MPH...19 KM/HR. A GRADUAL
TURN TO THE NORTH-NORTHEAST WITH AN INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED IS
EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 45 MPH...75 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN STRENGTH IS ANTICIPATED BEFORE
BARRY REACHES THE COAST.

[Justin E. Reed]

YES!, I hope we get our butts whooped here in Jax, j/k. This means lotta rain and lots of wind here, so much for having my weekend off.

[Darren Stephens]

Is this a new record for the earliest formed storm in the G.O.M.?

[richhorodner]

1959 had a tropical storm form in the Gulf in May.

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/1959/ARLENE/track.gif

There have been several formations in the Carib. that moved into the Gulf before June: most glaring example being the Feb. 1952 storm that brought 68 mph gusts to Miami.

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/1952/1/track.gif

Not in the Gulf, but a Category #3 in May in the Atlantic in 1951:

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/1951/ABLE/track.gif

[Blake Michaleski]

Kinda interesting/weird/ironic that we had a storm given a name on the first official day of hurricane season. If they didn't name subtropical storms, this this would have been the first named storm on the first official day of the season.

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

Currently up in Ohio, but fate had it so that my 3-week or so trip to FL to check house and family happened to be on the day Barry decided to affect FL - Not that I am complaining - I am a hurricane chaser after all ;-)

http://www.sky-chaser.com/data/misc/flytsbar.jpg

On final approach into Fort Lauderdale airport at about 5:15 PM EDT - Here we are at about 2,000 feet (Boeing 717). To the lower right are city blocks, barely visible. Turbulence was heavy and you can even see streaks of water beading across the window.

http://www.sky-chaser.com/data/misc/bapalms.jpg

Winds at Deerfield beach were ESE at 30 MPH sustained. Since Barry has most of its convection sheared off to the right side of the storm, that's where all the weather is, far to the east of the center.

http://www.sky-chaser.com/data/misc/bapier.jpg

Barry's winds also created rough surf in Florida as well. Waves here are about 6-8 feet.

[rdale]

If they didn't name subtropical storms, this this would have been the first named storm on the first official day of the season.


...and 30 years ago Barry wouldn't have been named either...

[richhorodner]

Kinda interesting/weird/ironic that we had a storm given a name on the first official day of hurricane season. If they didn't name subtropical storms, this this would have been the first named storm on the first official day of the season.

To make this even more "complicated", the hurricane season used to be June 15th to Nov 15th; until sometime in the 1950s. So Barry, back then and before would be a pre-season storm.

Up until when I was in grade school (1950s) hurricane season ran from June 15th to Nov 15th; as a determined extremely high % of storms occurred between those dates. The reason it was extended to June 1st - Nov 30th was a financial and fiscal one: changed sometime in the 1950s. Contracts and seasonal job assignments at the NHC, and other agencies that specialized in Atlantic Basin hurricane products, were determined to be more "equitable and easier to administer" if the season was 6 months long. One half a year is so much easier to administer and negotiate financially than 5/12 of a year.

By the way, the rain gauge in my back yard in Vero Beach, Florida, got 4.6 inches of rain the past 24 hrs. from "Barry". Quite welcome in this drought stricken area. The smell of forest fire smoke that has permeated the air for a month is now gone.

Going back through some old video I found a "rare" shot I took in 1994, standing on the beach in Sandestin, Florida during Tropical Storm Alberto. I was in the calm center ("eye") with clouds slowly rotating around my position, when I heard an airplane motor coming from my east. "Who the hell is flying around in the instability of a tropical storm with gusts near 70 mph?" Breaking through the clouds was a WC-130H model flown by the 53WRS (Air Force Reserves out of Keesler AFB , MS). Here is link to a short clip of the plane flying by at 1500 ft., taking obs. I assume.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bu4EuT85_c

[Paul Stofer]

Thats some pretty cool video Rich..

[Melissa Moon]

Barry brought Asheville some much-needed rain. While we're still very much in a drought, I'm really thankful for what we got.