Please Define a tropical wave.....

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bamajammer4eva
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Please Define a tropical wave.....

#1 Postby bamajammer4eva » Sun May 06, 2018 3:13 am

My definition is an inverted trough that crosses Africa and moves westward across the Atlantic Basin

Here is today's forecast discussion from NWS Tampa mentioning a tropical wave moving through their portion of Florida. Isn't this a little early or is the term being over-used such that its not a tropical wave at all??

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL
859 PM EDT Sat May 5 2018

.EVENING UPDATE...
A weak tropical wave continues to move across the region,
bringing shower activity and widespread cloudiness to the
region. Showers may linger into the overnight hours, but
should generally become less widespread with time. Low
clouds and soupy conditions will generally continue however,
as the low levels remain very moist.


.MARINE...
A weak tropical wave continues to weaken across the region
with spotty showers. Winds will generally remain below 15
knots through tomorrow. A weak front will move into the
region late Monday into Tuesday, possibly bringing a period
of cautionary winds early next week. Thereafter, generally
light winds and seas will persist.


A thread last year showed the first tropical wave to have occurred around May 25 although Cycloneye pointed out that it was not the first.

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=118743
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wxman57
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Re: Please Define a tropical wave.....

#2 Postby wxman57 » Sun May 06, 2018 8:23 am

Just because a wave wasn't mentioned until it approached Florida doesn't mean it isn't a wave. I pointed out this wave when it was well east of the Caribbean along 50W. Typically, tropical waves are fairly far south and don't have much in the way of convection during the winter/spring. This one had little or no convection when it was along 50W (and earlier). I see a couple of waves east of the Caribbean now - one along 40W and one near 20W. Neither has much convection, and development chances are about zero, which is why we don't mention them off-season.
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