Reading the Signs in Tropical Waters

[miamicanes177]

does anyone know why the birds left? I mean how could they know katrina was on the way if they were near the coast MGC? And for the record I had a dog that would bark before a storm.

[vbhoutex]

does anyone know why the birds left? I mean how could they know katrina was on the way if they were near the coast MGC? And for the record I had a dog that would bark before a storm.

The sea birds leaving a coast is always an early sign that there is something brewing or coming in soon(storm wise). I have seen it everytime I have been through a hurricane. They seem to have a sense to get out of the way.

['CaneFreak]

I think it has a lot to do with pressure change and what not. Animals have very sensitive smell, taste, feel, and emotions....but I think that the pressure falls have a lot to do with it because lower pressure causes them to tense up a bit and the lower pressure tends to have an effect on their five senses....

[miamicanes177]

The sea birds leaving a coast is always an early sign that there is something brewing or coming in soon(storm wise). I have seen it everytime I have been through a hurricane. They seem to have a sense to get out of the way.

That is fascinating. They don't even have radar! I'll like to do some research on this to see how they do it. Perhaps they have super hearing and can hear the waves crashing. OR, it's just a gift from God. Who knows.

[Regit]

I remember the day after Hurricane Hugo, inland counties were overrun with sea gulls. The beach, however, was void of them.

[Toadstool]

The sea birds leaving a coast is always an early sign that there is something brewing or coming in soon(storm wise). I have seen it everytime I have been through a hurricane. They seem to have a sense to get out of the way.

That is fascinating. They don't even have radar! I'll like to do some research on this to see how they do it. Perhaps they have super hearing and can hear the waves crashing. OR, it's just a gift from God. Who knows.

I think they can probably sense pressure changes or as well, but it was interesting to me that they chose delay migrating until all the hurricanes were done for the season!

While sharks fled the area, migratory birds may have delayed their flight through Florida until the hurricanes passed.

Fred Griffin, a Broward County birder, said it appeared that birds waited until October, very late in the season to head south into Florida.

"Once the hurricanes got through, it seemed like the migration really started," he said. "You have to figure they were hanging around and waiting for the atmosphere to clear out."

*link*

[Dean4Storms]

does anyone know why the birds left? I mean how could they know katrina was on the way if they were near the coast MGC? And for the record I had a dog that would bark before a storm.

Geez, they see all us lined up on the highways and byways getting out of dodge so they figure they might better as well.

[Fego]

Well... considering that the topic seems to be in the right track, I can say that here in Puerto Rico our grandfathers used the avocado harvest and how high a bird flew as a sign of an incoming storm.

[Starburst]

There use to be an entire website dedicated to why animals know when a storm is coming I will have to see if I can dig up the link it was very informative.

[Frank2]

In the end only God knows - it rains when God says rain - it doesn't when God says no rain...

I always chuckle when the NWS forecasts "a 90% chance of showers and thunderstorms" - and it's dry all day long, then, the next day, they will back off on the previous days blown forecast and will forecast "a 30% chance of showers" - and it'll rain all day.

I can't say how many times that has happened down here - as stated earlier...

[Praxus]

Ya gotta love this thread, it starts with sea gypsy stories and now we have God directing meteorological events.

[DESTRUCTION5]

Tell me about it..Just give me the facts..

[windstorm99]

No worries across the tropics during the next week or so according to jeff masters....

Here is a part of his blog today.

The tropical Atlantic continues to be quiet, which is typical for this time of year. Wind shear across the June breeding grounds for June tropical systems--the Gulf of Mexico, Western Caribbean, and Bahamian waters--is expected to remain high this week, which should discourage any tropical storms form forming. None of the computer models are forecasting any tropical development this week.

[Extremeweatherguy]

jeff masters will probably be right. There doesn't seem to be a high chance of development anywhere. I will still be watching the western Caribbean though, as it does actually look like a few of the models have been hinting at something down there, and the wind shear is actually not as high as Jeff Masters would make it seem ( http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/real- ... g8sht.html ), but overall I don't expect too much to arise out of this over the next 7-days (a weak system would not surprise me though). We will probably have to wait until July or August before we see any significant development (hurricanes) in the Atlantic basin. Let's just hope all remains quiet while I am out of town in early July and then again from July 22nd-26th..I don't want to miss tracking anything!

[Opal storm]

Enjoy these quiet times while they last, who knows what August/September/October have in store for us.

[miamicanes177]

No worries across the tropics during the next week or so according to jeff masters

I'm not sure how much stock I put into this guy anymore. June 1 he came out and said there was a below average chance (20%) of a storm in the next 2 weeks and we had Barry within a couple hours later. And I'll never forget his 2005 proclamation of a 20% chance katrina would flood new orleans...he finally raised it to like 70% as the streets were flooding.

[HurricaneRobert]

The fact that Barry was even a tropical cyclone was hard to sell to a lot of people. And the fact that Katrina flooded NO - the levys didn't overtop but the foundations were too weak. Predicting structural defects is outside a meteorolgist's area.

[Jam151]

The fact that Barry was even a tropical cyclone was hard to sell to a lot of people. And the fact that Katrina flooded NO - the levys didn't overtop but the foundations were too weak. Predicting structural defects is outside a meteorolgist's area.

So you think it was rational to give Katrina a 20% chance of flooding New Orleans? Nobody is going to get everything correct and that was probably just one of Jeff's botched moments.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

I strongly disagree, Barry was a tropical storm based on Recon data showing a warm core; with a warm core. Also for a time as the convection tryed to fire over the LLC the pressure droped to 997 millibars with 67 knot winds at flight level. Alberto only had 68-74 knot winds tops at flight level and 995. Yes I will admit it did not look like a classic systems but it was a sheared tropical cyclone as some call them. The Gulf of Mexico is a interesting area of tropical cyclone formation...It is one of the few places that these system form at least it seems.


http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2006/al ... .012.shtml?

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2006/al ... .010.shtml?

[kevin]

In the end only God knows - it rains when God says rain - it doesn't when God says no rain...

I always chuckle when the NWS forecasts "a 90% chance of showers and thunderstorms" - and it's dry all day long, then, the next day, they will back off on the previous days blown forecast and will forecast "a 30% chance of showers" - and it'll rain all day.

I can't say how many times that has happened down here - as stated earlier...

Mighty Zeus Lord of the Heavens casts down his lightning bolts and rides upon the dark storm clouds.