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Earl moving fast, now affecting Nova Scotia

Posted by Sheena Parveen under Daily updates

Earl has been downgraded to a tropical storm with maximum sustaied winds of 70 mph near the center.  Tropical storm force winds extend out 205 miles from the center, and as of 8am, parts of Nova Scotia were already receiving tropical storm force conditions.  As of 9:52AM, buoy data at Halifax, Nova Scotia was reporting sustained winds of 36 mph, gusting up to 45 mph.  As of 8am, the center of Earl was 40 miles South of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.  This storm is traveling very fast–30 mph!  Conditions will start to clear up for Maine through the day, but conditions will deteriorate for parts of Canada this afternoon.

Earl is a very large storm, but will continue weakening as it moves NE into much cooler areas.  It is likely that Earl will become extratropical in the next 12 to 24 hours.  Rainfall totals with heavier showers may get up to 3 inches in some areas.  Tropical storm watches/warnings are no longer in effect for the U.S. 

Wave heights have reached close to 10 feet near shore along Massachusetts and Maine as Earl passed by, and near the center of the storm, wave heights are closer to 30 feet.  Rip currents at the beaches will still be an issue after Earl moves away.

Since Earl has stayed centered in the Atlantic through it’s track, conditions on land and along the coast were not that bad.  Some residents in the New England area were describing it as a “big rain storm”.  East of Earl’s center is where the more destrucitve winds and rain stayed. 

If you’re wondering what it looked like Saturday morning in Bar Harbor, Maine, it wasn’t all that bad.  Winds were gusting up to 25 mph at the coast, with the higher sustained winds around 15 mph.  Rain blanketed the state, but moved off quickly due to the fast pace of the tropical storm. 

Besdies Earl, which will be clearing out of the NE shortly, we are still watching the remnants of Gaston for reorganizaton.  Another tropical wave follows behind, off the West coast of Africa, which could develop slowly.  Fiona on the other hand, has fizzled out over the Atlantic waters near Bermuda.

As for the remnant low of Gaston, computer models are still holding on to this system for several day, with possible redevelopment into a tropical depression over the next 24-48 hours.

As for Invest 99L (the tropical wave behind Gaston), models are taking this system on more of a NW path into next week.

The GFS model does actually intensify Gaston again, as well as the wave behind it.  By early next week, Gaston could emerge as a tropical depression in the Caribbean Sea.