Cat 5 now. Stronger than Eta was on the same track. If these storms feed on water heat, how come the first storm doesn’t deplete the energy for the next one?
I had posted this on the medicane thread
Good article here:
Hurricanes: Science and Society: Interaction between a Hurricane and the Ocean
Three-dimensional cartoon of the temperature distribution in the upper ocean and the impact of a hurricane passing over the ocean when the oceanic mixed layer is thin like much of the Gulf of Mexico (left) and thick like the Caribbean Sea (right). In both cases, the hurricane propagates down and left over the warm sea surface (red), creating a cold wake behind the storm as colder water (blue) is brought towards the sea surface by the hurricane’s wind stress. If the oceanic mixed layer is initially thin (left), the cold wake is colder so the hurricane remains weaker than if the oceanic mixed layer is initially thick (right), all else being equal. Image credit: National Geographic Magazine.
Even if the track were exactly the same but days later wouldn’t the general horizontal circulation in the Gulf replace the cooler waters?
or maybe the cold wake sinks right away and convects in volumes with untapped Q for the next storm to use.
This is what Wikipedia says -
This was my understanding as well but I don’t recall where I saw it.
NASA says they see these cold wakes persist for at least days.
So maybe Iota is just far enough away from Eta’s track that it has its own Q.
The fake news strikes again! How come the radio never provides an Info-graphic map to make things clear? Climate science reporters: always leading us astray with their words.
Reading the discussion is a good way to get an idea what’s going on.
Hurricane Iota Discussion Number 13
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL312020
1000 AM EST Mon Nov 16 2020Iota is a very impressive hurricane, especially for this late in the
year, with a distinct, warm eye on satellite images and a rather
electrified eyewall from the GOES lightning detector. An Air Force
Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft found maximum 700-mb flight-winds
of about 147 kt, with SFMR values of 140-145 kt, and a central
pressure of about 917 mb. A blend of all these data leads to an
initial wind speed of 140 kt, making Iota a category 5 hurricane,
the latest category 5 on record for the Atlantic basin. A little
more strengthening is possible today with fairly light shear and
warm waters before Iota makes landfall tonight. Rapid weakening is
anticipated over central America, and Iota should dissipate in a
couple of days.
Here is the previous discussion, above is #13 - the one below is #12
: Iota has explosively deepened 26 mb during the past 6 hours and has
rapidly intensified an incredible 35 kt during that same time. An
Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft and aircrew that flew the
arduous, 10-hour round-trip mission into Iota reported a maximum
700-mb flight-level wind speed of 134 kt and peak SFMR surface winds
of 121 kt, which supports the initial intensity of 125 kt, making
Iota a strong Category 4 hurricane. Furthermore, the pressure fell
an amazing 10 mb from 945 mb down to 935 mb in a little over an hour
between those two fixes. The crew also encountered intense lightning
and hail in the southwestern quadrant, where recent remote data
indicate that frequent lightning is still occurring. The aircrew
reported that the eye was around 15 n mi wide, and the latest
GOES-16 hi-resolution infrared satellite imagery confirms that the
eye diameter, and that the eye has cleared out with continued
warming eye temperatures and cooling surrounding cloud tops.
A better look at the paths of the two Eta and Iota
