11 PM EDT advisories for Hanna
Tropical storm warnings are now in effect from Edisto Beach, SC north to Watch Hill, RI. Hurricane watches are in effect from the mouth of the South Santee River in SC to Currituck Beach Light, NC (very near the NC-VA border), and may turn into warnings. Hanna still has 70 mph winds, and it's quite possible that she will make landfall near Myrtle Beach as a minimal Cat 1. The warnings and watches may be extended northward.
By the time the storm hits Boston, it is expected to become extratropical. This means that Boston's 45 mph winds with gusts to 55 mph will be coming from a cold-core storm straddling a temperature gradient instead of a warm-core storm without warm and cold fronts. I'm sure that people dealing with the wind, flooding rains and high waves will appreciate the difference.
By the way, if you are reading this from the UK, know that Hanna is headed your way as an extratropical system with a bead on Scotland.
Hanna is the appetizer. Ike is the main course. With conservatively-estimated winds of 115 mph, warm water and abating shear, the NHC predicts an intensification from 100 knots (115 mph) to 115 knots (130-135 mph). Its consensus track brushes the Cuban coast, smacks Key West and then launches the storm into the northeastern Gulf.
All of Florida except for Jacksonville and points north is in the 5-day cone. Miami, its southern suburbs and the Keys, the southern Everglades, almost all of Cuba and all but the northern Bahamas are in the 3-day cone.
Dr. Jeff Masters on Weather Underground reports that the Keys are under an evacuation order for Ike; a 14-foot storm surge is not out of the question.
After Hanna clears out Sunday evening, maybe it would be time for an Ike mothership.
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Finally, dessert. Josephine is now a tropical depression and will probably remain one for the next 4-5 days.