Tropical Storms Hanna, Ike and Josephine

Tropical Storm Hanna Set to Intensify





Tim Ballisty, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel



11:53 a.m. ET 9/3/2008





Hanna is struggling but expected to intensify while Ike nears hurricane
strength in the central Atlantic. Josephine, a strong tropical storm,
is in the far eastern Atlantic.
Watch the latest hurricane forecast.
Tropical Storm Hanna
Hanna
hasn't made much progress since yesterday. It remains over the southern
Bahamas and has been soaking Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos. Top
sustained winds are holding steady at 60 mph.
Although
Hanna has not intensified during the past 24 hours, it has expanded in
overall size. Tropical storm-force winds extend 290 miles north of the
center of circulation.
View the Hanna Tracker.
Reintensification
of Hanna is anticipated today and tomorrow. After days of wind shear
tearing Hanna apart, there are signs via satellite imagery that Hanna
has finally begun the process of reorganizing and thunderstorms are
once again igniting near the center of circulation. It may regain
hurricane status as early as sometime on Thursday.
Because it is still forecast to strengthen back to a hurricane, hurricane warnings
are posted for the central and southeast Bahamas and the Turks and
Caicos Islands, with hurricane watches posted for the northwestern
Bahamas.
After heading south yesterday,
Tropical Storm Hanna is now heading slowly to the north at 6 mph. It's
forward motion will increase today and it will turn toward the
northwest; passing over or just east of the northern and central
Bahamas.
View the latest projected path for Hanna.
Very
heavy rain has been occurring over Haiti and the southeastern Bahamas
because of Hanna. The storm is expected to produce 4-8 inch rain totals
over the southeastern Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos islands, and far
eastern Cuba. Heavy rain, on the order of 10 to as much as 20 inches,
will occur over Hispaniola (still recovering from Fay and Gustav's
rains).
The storm already has already
churned the ocean waters off the Southeast coast. Earlier this week,
numerous rescues by lifeguards were carried out along the beaches of
South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina all due to the dangerous
rip currents. The high rip current threat will last through the
remainder of the week.
Coastal residents
of South Carolina and North Carolina should monitor the track and
development of Hanna. By Friday afternoon, Tropical Storm or perhaps
Hurricane Hanna will be nearing the Southeast U.S. coast. The Weather
Channel's and weather.com's projected path takes Hanna's center of
circulation towards an eventual landfall close to the South
Carolina/North Carolina border.
Tropical Depression Gustav
The
remnants of Gustav are soaking are soaking nearly all of Arkansas and
portions of Mississippi, eastern Oklahoma, and much of Missouri.
The
soaking rains from Gustav will slide north and east through Missouri
and eventually into Illinois; providing a very wet day for the cities
of St. Louis and Chicago.
Tropical Storm Ike
Elsewhere
in the Atlantic Basin, Tropical Storm Ike continues to strengthen. It
is now a very healthy tropical storm and will soon become Hurricane
Ike; perhaps as soon as this afternoon.
It
is located more than 700 miles east-northeast of the Lesser Antilles.
Top winds are now near 70 mph, a healthy tropical storm.
Tropical
Storm Ike will initially head west or west-northwest over the course of
this week. It will very soon become a hurricane and continue to
strengthen over the next several days.
There are plenty of days still ahead to monitor Ike's progress.
You can view the projected path here.
View the Ike Tracker.
Tropical Storm Josephine
Tropical
Storm Josephine is in the far eastern Atlantic. It is located about 305
miles west-southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands. Top winds
have increased to 65 mph. There is small window for Josephine to become
just a touch stronger but soon upper-level westerly winds will begin to
impact and shear the tropical storm. Josephine will also begin to
encounter cooler ocean waters. The two factors combined will likely
weaken Josephine during the next two days.
Josephine
will continue to move away from the Cape Verde Islands on a western
track but then gradually turn to the west-northwest churning over the
open waters of the east-central Atlantic.
You can view Josephine's projected path here.
Eastern Pacific
And
lastly, what was once Tropical Storm Karina how dissipated into a
remnant low pressure. There will be no more advisories issued by the
National Hurricane Center on Karina.
For the latest on the busy tropics, stay tuned to The Weather Channel and for updates here on weather.com.