1st Storm of Alantic Hurricane Season: Big Bang or Damp Whimper?

Large, Well Organized, Low Pressure System 975 Miles WSW of Cape Verde Islands Moving NW at 15 MPH

A large, well-organized, low pressure system located about 1,000 miles WSW of the Cape Verde islands is moving northwestward at up to 15 MPH, NWS TPC/National Hurricane Center said.

Updated at approximately 2 AM, 8 AM, 2 PM, and 8 PM EDT from June 1 to November 30. Special outlooks may be issued as conditions warrant.   Click image to enlarge and update.

The system could become a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours, with a probability of 60 percent, the center added.

The system “is producing widespread cloudiness along with some showers and thunderstorms.”

Satellite images show a second system tailing the first.

Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Atlantic and East Pacific Oceans

• Real Time POES Imagery Atlantic/East Pacific SST Loop

Latest Global Montage (UW-SSEC)

• SSMI/AMSRE-derived Total Precipitable Water – Global

Nuclear High Noon in the Atlantic Ocean

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This Dying Ocean Ain’t Big Enough For the Both of US

Or, how we learned to play blind nuclear chicken with the taxpayers unwanted submarines in the middle of the ocean!

Nuclear subs ‘collide in ocean’

BBC UK;  Monday, 16 February 2009

A Royal Navy nuclear submarine was involved in a collision with a French nuclear sub in the middle of the Atlantic, it has been reported.

It is understood HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant were badly damaged in the crash earlier this month.

Despite being equipped with sonar, it seems neither vessel spotted the other, the BBC’s Caroline Wyatt said.

HMS Vanguard, a Royal Navy Vanguard-class submarine photographed in Florida in 1994.

The UK’s Ministry of Defense understandably too embarrassed to  comment on the reports, but insisted nuclear security had not been breached.

BBC defense correspondent said HMS Vanguard, with “very visible dents and scrapes”, had to be towed back into its home base at Faslane on the Firth of Clyde. The submarines were both “seriously-armed”, she also said.

HMS VANGUARD was Launched in 1992 and it is one of four British submarines carrying Trident nuclear missiles. It weighs 16,000 tonnes and is 150m (492ft) long.
It can carry 48 nuclear warheads on a maximum of 16 missiles. A two-year refit was completed in 2007 as part of a £5bn ($7.5billion) contract. Vanguard is due to be replaced in 2024, unless retired earlier by the French Navy.

The alleged incident is being investigated on both sides of the Channel, she said.

The Triomphant class of strategic missile submarines of the French Navy . This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0

The two submarines are key parts of each nation’s nuclear deterrent, and would have been carrying missiles, though both the UK and France have insisted there was no danger of a nuclear incident.

The two 150m-long (492ft) submarines were carrying around 240 sailors between them. A French naval spokesman said the collision did not result in any injuries to the crew.

HMS Vanguard is now back at Faslane, Clyde, one of three UK operating bases for the Royal Navy, about 40 km from Glasgow, Scotland.

Is Emperor Sarkozy gauging its traditional arch rival’s nuclear preparedness? Would France fire first?

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