Weird cyclones - Impressive cyclones

[Honeyko]

Monica didn't have a pinhole eye at her peak.

Monica, in NW Gulf of Carpentaria. From satellite presentation, I think she was at her at her strongest in the GoC (not a day later along the north coast):



Other weird things about Monica: 1. Was she the strongest cyclone? Debate simmers. 2. Per the first pic above, she was initially a non-annular cyclone without rainbands. A day later, she develops a larger eye with vorticies (as annulars often do)...but also acquires intense rainbands:

[KWT]

I think at its peak Monica may well have been pretty close to Tip's record if not below, the presentation is utterly amazing!

[CrazyC83]

I think at its peak Monica may well have been pretty close to Tip's record if not below, the presentation is utterly amazing!

I do agree - that is the best-looking tropical cyclone I have ever seen. It had the most optimal conditions possible as well. No one really knows how strong it was, although Dvorak ran between T7.5 and T8.0 (I would have to say T8.0 is more accurate). My guess for the peak intensity is 160 kt and 869mb.

[Squarethecircle]

Tip > everything. There's nothing to suggest Monica was as intense, especially given how rare these types of storms are. HOWEVER, I think that a guess in the 870s is probably accurate.

[Squarethecircle]

Monica didn't have a pinhole eye at her peak.

Monica, in NW Gulf of Carpentaria. From satellite presentation, I think she was at her at her strongest in the GoC (not a day later along the north coast):



Other weird things about Monica: 1. Was she the the strongest cyclone? Debate simmers. 2. Per the first pic above, she was initially a non-annular cyclone without rainbands. A day later, she develops a larger eye with vorticies (as annulars often do)...but also acquires intense rainbands:

That's a big eye. Not huge, but it's nowhere near pinhole size.

[Category 5]

Tip > everything. There's nothing to suggest Monica was as intense, especially given how rare these types of storms are. HOWEVER, I think that a guess in the 870s is probably accurate.

I agree, I can't buy 869mb without confirmation, I just can't.

However, Monica had the most spectacular satellite presentation EVER SEEN IMO.

No offense to Tip, which was quite impressive itself.

[Honeyko]

Monica didn't have a pinhole eye at her peak.

Monica, in NW Gulf of Carpentaria. From satellite presentation, I think she was at her at her strongest in the GoC (not a day later along the north coast):

That's a big eye. Not huge, but it's nowhere near pinhole size.

The eye will fake you out if you compare it to the size of the CDO; but Monica was a the tiniest TC I've ever seen (let alone a cat-5) while in the GoC.

[Ad Novoxium]

Glenda and Percy from not too far back, from what I know, had small eyes.
Glenda:

Percy:

[Chacor]

The eye will fake you out if you compare it to the size of the CDO; but Monica was a the tiniest TC I've ever seen (let alone a cat-5) while in the GoC.

In case you missed it, we already proved that Tracy was smaller.



And that's not a pinhole eye.

[arkestra]

Actually, it's strange nobody mentioned Tip in this topic until page 10!

[Honeyko]

And that's not a pinhole eye.

Please stop telling me that Monica didn't have a pinhole eye along the north coast -- I already know that; I already said it in my post with three pics at the top of the page. She had a pinhole eye in the GoC. She was also extremely tiny in the GoC -- smaller than Tracy, I would assert; and you can apply your layer-merging skills with the GoC pic in my last post to verify that if you'd like. (BTW, it's not fair to compare Tracy's blurry old photo with a color-saturated shot which makes every outer wispy cirrus filament seem like something important.)

IMO, it's silly to imply that Monica can't give Tracy a run for the record of smallest tropical cyclone if she later got bigger. We don't do lowest pressure of fastest winds records that way.

[vbhoutex]

IMO, unless you can come up with a picture proving the other one wrong it is time give up the fight Honeyko. I do not know how the picture was made or if the overlayed pictures are the same scale, but it would appear they are. That means that Tracy was much smaller than Monica unless you can find a correctly scaled picture to prove otherwise.

Besides that this thread is about more than Tracy and Monica. Surely there are more strange ones.

[Honeyko]

IMO, unless you can come up with a picture proving the other one wrong it is time give up the fight Honeyko. I do not know how the picture was made or if the overlayed pictures are the same scale, but it would appear they are.

As I previously stated, that overlay compares Tracy with Monica along the north coast when she was a larger storm, not Monica in the GoC when she was very tiny.

That means that Tracy was much smaller than Monica unless you can find a correctly scaled picture to prove otherwise.

I submit into the evidence the pictures I've already posted. I've also personally scaled the small/blurry Tracy picture so that the northern coastline matches the coastline in the Monica GoC picture (I just haven't melded to two images together). Monica in the GoC is smaller.

(There's also the matter of the provided Tracy pic apparently depicting a storm well after landfall, when it would presumably be in a rapidly dissipating state as central Australian desert quickly encircles the core.)

[vbhoutex]

IMO, unless you can come up with a picture proving the other one wrong it is time give up the fight Honeyko. I do not know how the picture was made or if the overlayed pictures are the same scale, but it would appear they are.

As I previously stated, that overlay compares Tracy with Monica along the north coast when she was a larger storm, not Monica in the GoC when she was very tiny.

That means that Tracy was much smaller than Monica unless you can find a correctly scaled picture to prove otherwise.

I submit into the evidence the pictures I've already posted. I've also personally scaled the small/blurry Tracy picture so that the northern coastline matches the coastline in the Monica GoC picture (I just haven't melded to two images together). Monica in the GoC is smaller.

(There's also the matter of the provided Tracy pic apparently depicting a storm well after landfall, when it would presumably be in a rapidly dissipating state as central Australian desert quickly encircles the core.)

Well then provide the melded pics. Most TC's that I am aware of spread out once the move inland. Is it different in Australia?

[Honeyko]

Most TC's that I am aware of spread out once the move inland. Is it different in Australia?

Well, if you're moving into a desert, it's not going to look like Allison over Houston after landfall. The Tracy pic shows a well-fortified rainband to the northwest of the center, while the center itself looks shriveled up due to arid air entrainment. (It would eventually become a dust whorl while the out rainband continues so long as the ocean feed remains.)

[Honeyko]

[vbhoutex]

Most TC's that I am aware of spread out once the move inland. Is it different in Australia?

Well, if you're moving into a desert, it's not going to look like Allison over Houston after landfall. The Tracy pic shows a well-fortified rainband to the northwest of the center, while the center itself looks shriveled up due to arid air entrainment. (It would eventually become a dust whorl while the out rainband continues so long as the ocean feed remains.)

Is that why Dolly or her remains flooded very arid areas of Texas and New Mexico when she didn't even have an ocean feed? IMO, your analysis doesn't hold water(pun intended).

[Category 5]

Tracy is officially the smallest TC on record.

Allow me to teach the class what that means.

That means that NO recorded TC was EVER smaller.


Class dismissed

And what do rainbands have to do with this BTW, size is measured by wind radii.

[Chacor]

Tracy never had gale force winds farther than 30 statute miles from its centre, according to NOAA. Both the JTWC and BoM advisories on Monica had gale-force winds well over 100 nm from its centre.

[Squarethecircle]

Monica had a significantly larger wind field. Case closed. Tip wasn't 1300 miles wide by rainbands - it just had gigantic (ENORMOUS!) wind fields.