Video from Halifax shows an angry sea

The Canadian Press is reporting not much damage from Hurricane Bill

, which pretty much behaved as forecast. It paralleled the coast of Nova Scotia, keeping the deteriorating eye offshore on Sunday. I found the seas at the mouth of the Halifax Harbor got up to about 32 feet. . I’ve got to think that there was some damage to shore assets such as boardwalks, marinas and some roads. Video of giant waves at Peggy’s Cove (watch the waves get bigger and bigger) supported the fact that there was damage to some cool places there. There were some power outages but the storm had weakened a bunch as it was in the transition from a tropical cyclone to an extratropical storm. So, stronger winds aloft were not really all that suited to be brought down to the surface. Offshore I saw wind gusts at some buoys to 70 kts and seas upward of 40 feet.

The International Space Station captured some cool video of Hurricane Bill. Cape Cod video shows some pretty good wave action and even some surfers showed up. In North Carolina, a lifeguard had to save a swimmer who didn’t heed the warnings of riptide dangers, as this video shows. There was some pretty good beach erosion in New Jersey. Some people were swept out to sea by huge waves in Maine. All were rescued but a little girl later died. I have yet to figure out why people do this. In Hurricane Ike, several people thought it would be cool to have their picture taken with crashing waves behind them on the seawall For a few, that photograph was the last anyone saw of them. And there were lots of people standing there with small children. People have no concept of the power of water. Well, Bill is off to the North Sea, though I still think it may swing back around to Spain or Portugal. Either way, it did its job of transporting heat and moisture from the tropical regions to the polar regions and it did so without really hitting land. It was a good hurricane.

There is a new Tropical Disturbance that I wasn’t overly consumed with because it was a wave interacting with an upper low. But, I’ll tell you what..the satellite image looks pretty interesting. Worth watching. Here’s the satellite image with the final Hurricane/Tropical Storm Bill NHC discussion

TROPICAL STORM BILL DISCUSSION NUMBER 36

NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL032009

500 AM AST MON AUG 24 2009

SATELLITE IMAGERY AS WELL AS RADAR AND SURFACE DATA FROM

NEWFOUNDLAND CANADA INDICATE THAT BILL HAS QUICKLY LOST TROPICAL

CHARACTERISTICS THIS MORNING. THE CLOUD PATTERN HAS BECOME

INCREASING ASYMMETRIC WITH THE STRONGEST WINDS AND COLDEST CLOUD

TOPS WELL REMOVED FROM THE CENTER. THE SYSTEM IS RAPIDLY MOVING

EAST-NORTHEASTWARD WITHIN A BAND OF STRONG UPPER-LEVEL WESTERLY

WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SOUTHERN EXTENT OF A POLAR JET THAT IS

LOCATED JUST TO THE NORTH OF THE CYCLONE. THE INITIAL INTENSITY

ESTIMATE IS 60 KT…WHICH IS BASED PRIMARILY ON BUOY…SHIP…AND

LAND OBSERVATIONS THAT RECORDED 50-56 KT WINDS DURING THE PAST 6

HOURS. THE EXTRATROPICAL LOW IS FORECAST TO GRADUALLY WEAKEN

THROUGHOUT THE FORECAST PERIOD.

THE CYCLONE CONTINUES TO ACCELERATE EAST-NORTHWESTWARD WITH AN

INITIAL MOTION ESTIMATE OF 075/37. BILL SHOULD CONTINUE TO MOVE

RAPIDLY EAST-NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS THE NORTH ATLANTIC DURING THE

NEXT DAY OR SO. THE GLOBAL MODELS INDICATE THAT BILL WILL SLOW

DOWN AS IT INTERACTS WITH A LARGE EXTRATROPICAL LOW SOUTHWEST OF

ICELAND IN A COUPLE OF DAYS. THE MODELS SUGGEST THAT THE

EXTRATROPICAL REMNANTS OF BILL WILL BE ABSORBED INTO THE LARGER LOW

SHORTLY THEREAFTER. THE OFFICIAL FORECAST IS SIMILAR TO THE

PREVIOUS ADVISORY AND IS CLOSE TO THE MODEL CONSENSUS.

THIS WILL BE THE LAST NHC ADVISORY ON BILL. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

ON THIS SYSTEM CAN BE FOUND IN HIGH SEAS FORECASTS ISSUED BY THE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE…UNDER AWIPS HEADER NFDHSFAT1 AND WMO

HEADER FZNT01 KWBC.

FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS

INITIAL 24/0900Z 48.6N 50.2W 60 KT…EXTRATROPICAL

12HR VT 24/1800Z 50.0N 41.5W 55 KT…EXTRATROPICAL

24HR VT 25/0600Z 51.5N 29.5W 45 KT…EXTRATROPICAL

36HR VT 25/1800Z 52.5N 19.0W 40 KT…EXTRATROPICAL

48HR VT 26/0600Z 55.0N 11.0W 35 KT…EXTRATROPICAL

72HR VT 27/0600Z 62.5N 1.0W 30 KT…EXTRATROPICAL

96HR VT 28/0600Z…DISSIPATED

$$

FORECASTER BROWN/ROBERTS