INVEST 92L- NOW BARRY

SW46TER · Senior Member Joined: Jul 11, 2005 Posts: 1202

I am not turning this into a Barry discussion. What I am referring to has happen several times in the past couple of years of storms that were stripped of their names .....not because it lost tropical storm strength, but because it was deemed to have transitioned to extratropical. I never said a storm that didn't have tropical storm strength should keep it's name...........that's obvious...........Anytime you are dealing with a warm core, closed system.......there is a danger of an extreme occurrence. You are bringing tropical latent heat energy into the mid latitudes which usually don't handle it too well. Barry was a early season storm which went over relatively cool waters from Tampa to New England yet if you look at how the storm tightened up today in it's final hours over water South of Long Island, you see why it's always dangerous to let your guard down from these tropical entities until they are off the playing field. New York City got 4 inches of rain from Barry today. How many people in SW Florida under a tropical storm warning had that much? If it's strong enough and still warm core, leave it alone until it's gone............simple as that. Do you think the public is going to care one bit............NO! When they get 6 inches of rain flooding their homes from something that was stripped of it's name by the NHC and not over-hyped by NOAA (not because of incompetence, but because these things often have to be nowcasted as they expload over one area), they are pissed. If it has a name, they pay attention to tracks, cones etc. People lead busy lives these days and have limited time to keep track of weather. If it is named, it is a top story on the news. If it is unnamed, most assume it is not a threat anymore and that has proven too many times to be a wrong assumption over the past few years. But you are entitled to your opinion of keeping everything to the letter of definition. Being involved in the field for a long time I have come to realize that everything isn't black and white, and public safety and awareness is paramount. As I indicated before, I am willing to compromise for the "weather purists" by calling it extratropical storm _____ or subtropical storm ______. Bottom line...........if it still has the wind damage and rain/flood potential leave it named until it leaves the playing field