ATL: DON - Remnant - Discussion

[Macrocane]

Just like I said it was the most rapid weakening without mountains, it seems that Don was not a drought buster but the drought was a tropical cyclone buster. Too bad for Texas, I really wish you to have your drought busted in the best possible way.

[CrazyC83]

Post-tropical cyclone? What cyclone?

[Dave]

Thanks to Dave,HURAKAN,and others that helped with the posting of the data.

Are you ready for the next missions for 91L starting on Sunday?

We haven't taken off yet?

[CrazyC83]

A larger storm is needed for sure to break the drought. It would probably need to be a hurricane over the Gulf to survive and pour the rain needed.

[xironman]

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cockroach ridge  tropical cyclones 
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[Portastorm]

My final comment on this waste of a system (and a name) ... Don was the sorriest excuse for a tropical storm I have ever seen threaten Texas. Absolutely pitiful!

I've seen better sea-breeze fronts.

[Tireman4]

[quote="tolakram"]POST-TROPICAL CYCLONE DON DISCUSSION NUMBER 11
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL042011
400 AM CDT SAT JUL 30 2011

THE DON IS DEAD. THE CYCLONE LITERALLY EVAPORATED OVER TEXAS ABOUT
AS FAST AS I HAVE EVER SEEN WITHOUT MOUNTAINS INVOLVED. DON HAS NO
CONVECTION...MEAGER RAINFALL...AND ONLY A SLIGHT SIGNATURE IN
SURFACE OBSERVATIONS AND RADAR DATA. THEREFORE...THIS IS THE LAST
ADVISORY ON THIS SYSTEM. DON SHOULD OPEN UP INTO A TROUGH LATER
TODAY AS IT MOVES TO THE WEST-NORTHWEST AND IS NOT EXPECTED TO POSE
A RAINFALL THREAT.
FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS

INIT 30/0900Z 27.9N 98.8W 25 KT 30 MPH...POST-TROP/REMNT LOW
12H 30/1800Z 28.5N 101.0W 20 KT 25 MPH...POST-TROP/REMNT LOW
24H 31/0600Z...DISSIPATED INLAND

$$
FORECASTER BLAKE


Rain, what rain. I dont see no stinking rain...LOL

[funster]

Global warming ate Don. We need some snow in Texas asap.

[CrazyC83]

See you in 2017, Don! Don't be a wimp next time!

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

See you in 2017, Don! Don't be a wimp next time!

Reminds me of South Park:

The Death Ridge killed Don! You *******!

[CrazyC83]

See you in 2017, Don! Don't be a wimp next time!

Reminds me of South Park:

The Death Ridge killed Don! You *******!

Too bad it wasn't Kenny we had there!

[HouTXmetro]

Does anyone have and archived satellite presentation of Don Collapsing at landfall? I would like to post it on facebook...Thanks in advance

[HURAKAN]

I saved this one:

[nicole]

Tweet from Jim Cantore with TWC during Don...

"Western part of circulation center with #don coming ashore near Baffin Bay. This thing died faster than Chesney's and Zellweger's marriage."


haha!

[Ptarmigan]

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cockroach ridge  tropical cyclones 
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We need cans of RAID to kill the Cockroach Ridge.

[Air Force Met]

Don really surprised me. I really thought it was going to get going Thursday night when I saw that convective burst. When I woke up Friday morning at about 0400 and looked at the first IR loops and saw the convection still maintaining...I thought...OK...so far so good...then I saw something that I knew wasn't good. I saw a little puff of darker colored cirrus on the IR headed SW near the LLC. Undercutting shear...which was the reason for the tilt in the circulation.

The upper level cirrus looked good and I was impressed. Then I saw that one little cloud...about the size of a small town...and I knew it was over. I would have posted but I've been dealing with a migraine since Thursday evening. Those of you who get those know that you don't feel like doing much. Just now coming out of it.

Anyway...yes...not sure I have ever seen a system fall apart like that short of mountains. Wow. What a disappointment. On the BRIGHT side...it did throw up a lot of moisture this way. We got 6/10 of an inch last night...which is the MOST rain we have gotten in 1 day since last October I think. So...in the last week...I we gotten over an inch. We went 5 months with less than an inch here in Angleton. So...I'm thankful for Don. It's better than nothing.

[Stephanie]

Glad you're feeling better AFM!

I think that Texas was BLESSED that Don was only a rain maker.

[underthwx]

I agree we are blessed.....but...got rain?

[HarlequinBoy]

:uarrow: I've seen hurricanes disappear like that, 2005 Adrian went poof just after landfall in Central America although Central America has a lot of mountains that disrupt tropical cyclones easily, it's impressive how it disappeared in such a flat terrain like Texas.

Isn't this different because Don just disintegrated prior to landfall rather than after?

[Rgv20]

NWS in Brownsville examines the rapid demise of Don.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bro/?n=2011event_tropstormdon

So, What Killed Don?
The answer seems simple. Or is it? Some small cyclones moving through warm waters often intensify rapidly, turning a relatively routine event into a life threatening windstorm (Charley, 2004). Others fail to intensify rapidly, and some lose their identity. Research into tropical cyclones is heavily invested in intensity prediction; much more study is needed to improve this critical aspect of forecasting. For Don, we observed three elements which may have led to Don’s struggle to survive, followed by the storm’s rapid demise:

Dry Atmospheric Air. Don, being moved along by decent east to east–southeast flow in the mid levels of the atmosphere, quickly found inhospitable dry air along it’s path heading to Texas. Dry atmospheric air increases the amount of evaporation, and cooling, in and near the storm environment. While such cooling is favorable for atmospheric instability, it is unfavorable for the "heat engines" that drive tropical cyclones. Such cooling may have led to increased icing in the vertical growth region, leading to impressive cloud to ground lightning production. Most tropical cyclones have have much lower lightning strike frequencies than Don.

Wind Shear. Just enough wind shear from north winds more than 25,000 feet above the ground elongated Don’s core, with the heaviest weather well south of the center of the surface circulation. When wind shear is combined with dry air in the same regions, the slightly tilted core takes on the personality of a mesoscale convective complex, where thunderstorms cluster in a circular fashion.

Cool Nearshore Waters. A tropical cyclone struggling to intensify requires only a slight disruption to bring it down. Prior to Don’s arrival along the South Texas coast, surf zone water temperatures had dipped into the 70s to around 80°F, courtesy of a prolonged period of southeast flow which brought cooler undersea waters to the surface. Small thunderstorm clusters, which need warm, humid, unstable air to maintain their updrafts, can be destroyed by even a small area of stable air. Radar showed rapid decay of heavy rain, while satellite trends showed warming of the highest clouds. At the same time, hundreds of lightning strikes faded to dozens, then to only a few. All in less than three hours.

We are planning to be part of future research efforts to investigate reasons, known and unknown, for Don’s rapid death.