[Freak] `Hurricane` Heading Toward Southern Brazil

[Ivan Seeking]

A South Atlantic Tropical Cyclone? Most literature dealing with tropical weather would agree: hurricanes are unknown over the southern Atlantic Ocean. Yet, as of early Friday, a storm with a well-formed eye about 300 miles east of southern Brazil has all the look of a hurricane. If indeed this is a tropical cyclone, it did not begin in the usual way; rather, it began as an ordinary "cool" trough that sat over warm seas for a few days. The atmospheric setting must have been "just right" to allow this trough to strengthen markedly while altering from cool-core to warm-core, and thus tropical, in nature. [continued]

http://wwwa.accuweather.com/adcbin/public/headlines.asp?iws=0

 

[Embermage]

Yes it was indeed a very odd occurrence. I'm not even sure if it would be called a Hurrican down there, but for lack of a better name... also, it was about the intensity of a weak Hurricane would be up here (65 - 75 knots), and it unfortunately did hit Brazil. From what I read on CNN.com, 2 people died, and hundred of homes were destroyed . Hopefully they will be able to recover from this.

Part of the reason was that the Brazil meteorologists have no experience forecasting these storms since they're so rare.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

An update from NASA

"This really caught everybody off guard," says NASA hurricane researcher Robbie Hood. "Hurricanes aren't supposed to be in that part of the world." Weather satellites have been circling Earth for more than 40 years. During that time, she says, they've spotted hurricanes (also called "typhoons" or "cyclones") in the northern Atlantic Ocean, and on both sides of the equator in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but never before in the south Atlantic. [continued]

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/02apr_hurricane.htm?list900632

 

[Andre]

Three posts already about an unusual weather phenomenon and no reference yet to global warming. Curious.

Stormy eras tend to come and go in cycles of several years it seems. Based on the weather in the past, we may be in for some more hectic weather the next few years.

Anyway I understand that this may not have been a true hurricane

The U.S. National Hurricane Center was in dispute with Brazilian forecasters as to whether this was the first hurricane ever spotted in the South Atlantic.


Using satellite data, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported the storm had winds of up to 80 mph, making it the first-ever hurricane tracked in that area.


But Brazil says no – the storm had top winds of around 56 mph.


But neither side had planes to fly into the storm to prove their point.


Brazil doesn't own any hurricane hunter aircraft at all, and the U.S. doesn't have planes anywhere near that area.


Brazilian officials called it an "extra-tropical cyclone" – not a hurricane.

http://www.disasterresponse.net/news/news.php?articleid=2182

 

[Andre]

But then again, perhaps it was http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/02apr_hurricane.htm?list1066675 after all.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Three posts already about an unusual weather phenomenon and no reference yet to global warming.

Well, now that you brought it up...