From NASA Goddard- Atlantic hurricane season sticks to the calendar: System 93L

NOTE: I’ve posted the most current image below, the system has already crossed the Florida peninsula and is now in the Gulf of Mexico – Anthony

Hurricane season starts today, June 1, in the Atlantic Ocean and the tropics are paying attention to the calendar. The GOES-13 satellite has been capturing images of a low pressure area that formed off the North Carolina coast yesterday and is now located off of the northeastern Florida coast.

The low pressure area, also known as System 93L appears somewhat elongated, almost rounded area of clouds on the satellite imagery today, stretching from southwest to northeast. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite called GOES-13 has been capturing imagery of the low since it formed. The visible image from June 1 at 1445 UTC (10:45 a.m. EDT) has some shadows in the middle of the storm, which indicate that there are some towering, strong thunderstorms near the circulation center that are casting shadows onto the lower thunderstorms.

NASA’s GOES Project, located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. creates imagery and animations of GOES satellite data. The GOES series of satellites are operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. To see the latest animation of the GOES satellite imagery in “Hurricane Alley” in the Atlantic Ocean visit: http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov and click on “Hurricane Alley HDTV” on the top right side of the NASA GOES webpage.

At 8 a.m. EDT, the center of the low was about 200 miles east of Jacksonville, Florida and was moving west-southwest near 20 mph. It is forecast to move over northern Florida later today toward the Florida Panhandle. It has a medium chance of becoming the Atlantic hurricane season’s first tropical depression in the next 24 hours.

The low does mean some scattered strong thunderstorms are in the forecast for northeastern Florida and isolated thunderstorms in southeastern Georgia today. The National Weather Service noted that some of the thunderstorms could contain wind gusts to 50 mph, small hail, frequent cloud to ground lightning and heavy rainfall.

In addition to the threat of severe thunderstorms, the low is also creating rip currents and building swells along the eastern Florida beaches. For updates, visit NASA’s Hurricane Web Page at: www.nasa.gov/hurricane

If the low does intensify into a tropical storm it would receive the name Arlene. However, it must first reach tropical depression status. Even if it doesn’t become a depression it still means severe weather for northeastern Florida and southeastern Georgia today.

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UPDATED Image:

Here’s the latest from NHC:

TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 200 PM EDT WED JUN 1 2011 FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO... A SMALL AREA OF LOW PRESSURE LOCATED JUST TO THE EAST OF DAYTONA BEACH FLORIDA IS MOVING WEST-SOUTHWESTWARD NEAR 20 MPH WITH ASSOCIATED SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY SPREADING OVER PORTIONS OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL FLORIDA. SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM IS NOT ANTICIPATED WHILE IT MOVES OVER LAND TODAY AND TONIGHT...AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE ONLY MARGINALLY FAVORABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT OVER THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO ON THURSDAY. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND GUSTY WINDS ARE POSSIBLE OVER NORTH-CENTRAL FLORIDA THROUGH TONIGHT. THERE IS A LOW CHANCE...20 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS SYSTEM...PLEASE SEE PRODUCTS FROM YOUR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE. DISORGANIZED CLOUDINESS AND SHOWERS OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN AND WEST-CENTRAL CARIBBEAN SEA ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A BROAD SURFACE TROUGH. SOME GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM IS POSSIBLE ONCE UPPER-LEVEL WINDS BECOME A LITTLE MORE CONDUCIVE LATE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. THERE IS A LOW CHANCE...10 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE AS IT MOVES LITTLE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS. ELSEWHERE...TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS. ALL NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER TEXT AND GRAPHICAL PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE WEB AT WWW.HURRICANES.GOV. SIGN UP FOR PRODUCT UPDATES BY EMAIL AT WWW.HURRICANES.GOV/SIGNUP.SHTML...IN ALL LOWER CASE. YOU CAN ALSO INTERACT WITH US ON FACEBOOK AT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/US.NOAA.NATIONALHURRICANECENTER.GOV. $$ FORECASTER BERG/PASCH

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