Guidry News Service -- Dedicated to rapid, accurate presentation of area news since 1996
The Weather Page

From the Jamaica Beach Weather Observatory
September 5, 2006

Jim,

My next door neighbor (and JB Mayor) Vic Pierson asked me about the new depression and I thought you might be interested in some of the info I gave him.

Regards,

Jim O’Donnel

There is very little chance that Tropical Depression Six will end up in the Gulf of Mexico. As a matter of fact, I may stop issuing e-mail updates on it by Tuesday or Wednesday once the projected path becomes more certain. One of the reasons for the greatly reduced activity this year, particularly in what is known as the “deep tropics” near the Cape Verde Islands is a large amount of dust particulate matter in the atmosphere originating from the Sahara Desert. This has resulted in a large volume of unusually dry air over the eastern Atlantic thus reducing thunderstorm activity…and consequently the number of tropical cyclones.

The traditional peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is September 10th and generally speaking (but not always), the Upper Texas Coast rarely gets a tropical cyclone landfall after the third week of September due to the first frontal systems of the year entering the Gulf of Mexico. Three notable exceptions are the unnamed Category 3 hurricane which made landfall near Freeport on October 3, 1949 (with the eye passing directly over Hobby Airport)…Hurricane Jerry which of course made landfall at Jamaica Beach on October 15, 1989…and last but not least: Hurricane Rita which made landfall at Johnsons Bayou, LA on September 24, 2005.

Maybe this just isn’t our year.

Regards,

Jim

 
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