ON Edit: Replied to wrong post...sorry.http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.htmlPosted: 3:50pm EDT Thursday July 21
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The wave over the Bahamas continues to rapidly spin up, and a cloud free area has developed near the circulation center. This cloud-free area is not an eye; the storm has a long ways to go before it attains hurricane strength. Ship reports and QuikSCAT winds both show tropical storm force winds, so I imagine we'll have Tropical Storm Franklin with the 5pm advisory, if the Hurricane Hunters can close off a circulation.
As Steve Gregory points out in his blog, it is too early to dismiss the threat to Florida from this system. While the GFS and GFDL models both recurve the storm, the BAMM model shows the storm crossing Florida. Although the BAMM is usually the poorest performer of the models we post on our computer model page, with such a compact and shallow system, the BAMM could very well have a better handle on the track.
Posted: 2pm EDT Thursday July 21
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Latest visible satellite images show an unmistakable rotation of the tropical wave moving through the Bahamas. QuickSCAT winds continue to show tropical-storm force winds on the east side of the wave, and it would not surprise me if we had Tropical Storm Franklin by tonight. We'll have to wait until the Air Force hurricane hunter aircraft arrives at 4pm today to see if a tropical depression or tropical storm has indeed formed.
As indicated in my blog from this morning, this system is expected to recurve away from the East Coast of the U.S. and not pose an immediate threat to any land, except for the northernmost Bahama Islands.
Dr. Jeff Masters