The Power of Three

Well, after Typhoon Choi-wan I didn't think the weather could get any crazier around here. But alas, this week we had not one Typhoon but THREE Tropical Storms. The first one started 10 days ago and in the space of 24 hours there were three all in the space of 1000 miles. To put that distance into perspective, that is the distance from Maine to Indiana.

The first storm we had to deal with was actually what is now Typhoon Parma that is clipping the Philippines. That storm formed directly to the south and brought us some rain and moderate wind for about three hours. After that we had a storm just to our southeast move directly northwest and pass between Guam and our neighboring island Rota. Luckily, that storm was only a weak tropical depression, which again brought us rain but thankfully little wind.

Finally, the last storm started further to the east and slowly made it's way west. This storm is called Typhoon Melor (Malaysian: Jasmine Flower) and brought strong winds all day today. Thankfully, it was far enough away from Guam that the winds did not cause any damage.

Overall, we had three storms we had to watch over ten days. It was a very busy time and I am glad it is over for Guam. Unfortunately, there are still two more months of the main Typhoon season here and it is far from quiet in the ocean.

Not so quiet weather in Maine

The opposite of High Pressure is Low Pressure. You can easily see that Maine is now covered in clouds (look to the center right of the picture, New Brunswick is visible in the center). This is associated with a weak cold front that extends from the Low Pressure. Interestingly enough, the low pressure center is located in Canada, near the Hudson Bay.

The cold front generates the weather for Maine. In this particular case, it brings the chance of showers. It also, brings cooler temperatures during the day and warmer temperatures at night. The temperature shift comes from the cloud cover. We will explore the effects of cloud cover on the Earth in a another post.

Quiet Weather in Maine

Although there were clouds out Sunday, they were well up high and left it a beautiful day outside. It kind of makes me jealous for a nice crisp fall day in Maine. Today's picture shows a clear day from New Hampshire to New York.

The clear day comes from what we call High Pressure and Ridging. High pressure is simply the atmosphere building a little dome or bubble over an area. High pressure is usually associated with good weather. The dome or bubble prevents the movement of wind into the center. Weather moves on the wind: no wind, no rain. This doesn't always hold true, but it is a good "rule of thumb".

Super Typhoon 15W Choi-Wan

It has been an exciting week at the office. Typhoon Choi-Wan (Chinese - colorful cloud) started out as a small storm 600 miles to the east of Guam and rapidly intensified. At first it was moving westerly towards the island of Saipan, so we were expecting strong winds for Guam. But eventually it turned northwest and went over the northern islands in the Central Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI). Now the projected track will take it in close vicinity of Iwo-to, Japan. Bonus points if you can find out the significance of this island.

Tropical Storm Dujuan

Tropical Storm Dujuan is well northwest of Guam and not expected to impact any landmass directly at this time.

All tropical storms in the Pacific are named by multiple countries that submit a list to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This paticular storm was named by China and symbolizes the Azalea flower.

Welcome

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the Weather Whatnot blog. Here, I will focus on weather in the Pacific (primarily near Guam) and in Maine. Of course, there may be other places that are interesting at some point in time and I will comment on those too. I hope you find this interesting.