Rick Strengthens to a Major Hurricane

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Rick Strengthened to an Extremely Dangerous Category 4 Hurricane

At 10:15 UTC the center of hurricane Rick was near latitude 14.0°N, longitude 102.3°W,  or about

• 40 km southwest of Acapulco, Mexico
• 595 km south-southeast of Manzanillo, Mexico

Rick is Now a Cat 4A Hurricane on FEWW New Hurricane Scale ( Cat. four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale). GOES Satellite Image. Rainbow Enhancement – Still Frame. Date and time as inset. Click image to enlarge and update.

Coastal Watches/Warnings and 5-Day Track Forecast Cone

Rick’s 5-day Track Forecast. Click Image to enlarge and update.

Tropical Storm Force Wind Speed Probabilities – 120 Hours

Hurricane Rick Wind Speed Probabilities – 120 Hours

Direction and Speed

• Rick is moving in a west-northwesterly direction at 19 km/hr
• Expected to stay on its forecast track for the next 48 hours
• Will remain off-shore, moving parallel to the southern coast of Mexico

Wind Speed

• Maximum sustained winds: 215

Category

Rick is now an extremely dangerous category 4A on FEWW New Hurricane Scale ( Cat. four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale).

Further Strengthening Forecast:

• Rick will Most probably strengthen to a category five hurricane in the next 12 – 36 hours.

Wind Forces and Pressure

• Hurricane force winds: Extend 55 km
• Tropical storm force winds: Extend 165 km from the center
• Minimum central pressure: 71.09mm Hg (948 mb).

Rain Potential

• Rick’s outer rainbands will continue to affect the Southern coast of Mexico, NHC said.

FEWW Comment:

Hurricane Rick looks organized, symmetrical and extremely dangerous. Warm coastal waters off the Mexican coast will most likely help Rick to become a Category 5 hurricane. Rick could devastate Baja and coastal areas of western Mexico.

As Typhoon LUPIT (currently located near Philippines) and Hurricane Rick grow stronger,  the question on many people’s mind must now be whether the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season will end with  a whimper, or the “mother of all hurricanes” could still form there …

Other Satellite Images

GOES Satellite: East Pacific :  Hurricane Rick(EP20)

• Visible  Image – Java – Flash
• IR AVN  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Shortwave  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Dvorak*  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Unenhanced  Image – Java – Flash
• IR JSL  Image – Java – Flash
• IR RGB  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Funktop  Image – Java – Flash
• IR Rainbow  Image – Java – Flash
• Water Vapor  Image – Java – Flash

Additional Images:

• FEWW Satellite Imagery List

Another Ocean Record Broken

Congratulations! We’ve broken another ocean record!

Warmest Global Ocean Surface Temperatures on Record for July: NOAA

Our planet experienced the  warmest ocean surface temperature on record for July, exceeding the previous record established in 1998, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., reported.

As for the combined average global land and ocean surface temperature records, July 2009 ranked fifth-warmest since 1880 when world-wide records began,  NOAA said.

Atlantic Ocean Daily Sea Surface Temps – POES Composite. Source: NOAA

East Pacific Ocean Daily Sea Surface Temps – POES Composite. Source: NOAA

The following stats were provided by NOAA:

Global Climate Statistics

• The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2009 was the fifth warmest on record, at 1.03 degrees F (0.57 degree C) above the 20th century average of 60.4 degrees F (15.8 degrees C).

• The global ocean surface temperature for July 2009 was the warmest on record, 1.06 degrees F (0.59 degree C) above the 20th century average of 61.5 degrees F (16.4 degrees C). This broke the previous July record set in 1998. The July ocean surface temperature departure of 1.06 degrees F from the long-term average equals last month’s value, which was also a record.

• The global land surface temperature for July 2009 was 0.92 degree F (0.51 degree C) above the 20th century average of 57.8 degrees F (14.3 degree C), and tied with 2003 as the ninth-warmest July on record.

Notable Developments and Events

• El Niño persisted across the equatorial Pacific Ocean during July 2009. Related sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies increased for the sixth consecutive month.

• Large portions of many continents had substantially warmer-than-average temperatures during July 2009. The greatest departures from the long-term average were evident in Europe, northern Africa, and much of western North America. Broadly, across these regions, temperatures were about 4-7 degrees F (2-4 degrees C) above average.

• Cooler-than-average conditions prevailed across southern South America, central Canada, the eastern United States, and parts of western and eastern Asia. The most notably cool conditions occurred across the eastern U.S., central Canada, and southern South America where region-wide temperatures were nearly 4-7 degrees F (2-4 degrees C) below average.

• Arctic sea ice covered an average of 3.4 million square miles during July. This is 12.7 percent below the 1979-2000 average extent and the third lowest July sea ice extent on record, behind 2007 and 2006. Antarctic sea ice extent in July was 1.5 percent above the 1979-2000 average. July Arctic sea ice extent has decreased by 6.1 percent per decade since 1979, while July Antarctic sea ice extent has increased by 0.8 percent per decade over the same period.

Related Links:

• Our Oceans: WILD FACTS SERIES
• How Hot Is Your Ocean?

• El Niño Update [17 Aug 2009]
• El Niño Home Page

How Hot Is Your Ocean?

Atlantic and East Pacific Oceans Daily Sea Surface Temps – POES Composite

Atlantic Ocean Daily Sea Surface Temps – POES Composite. Source: NOAA

East Pacific Ocean Daily Sea Surface Temps – POES Composite. Source: NOAA

For real-time global sea surface temperature (SST) analysis see:  Reynolds SST Analysis