Boards on the window Mail by the door What would anybody leave so quickly for? Ophelia

Ok, Ophelia is not supposed to impact us or the Caribbean (looks like it will actually move east and maybe impact Europe a bit) but I could not resist the thread title. 

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at2.shtml?cone#contents

The thread title sounds like the opening to a great song.

Or something spun from an outer band.

Max or others,

Help us understand why Ophelia steered to the north and east???

Almost every other one seems to go west/north west...

Also seems very, very uncommon that the UK gets a hurricane...

Best Regards,

Ron Carter

I have

no.

freaking.

clue.

But if i had to hazard a guess, there is a big high pressure area expanding out of the Canadian Maritime that, coupled with the relatively northern formation of the original disturbance, is pushing it that way.

But Ireland?  Really?

ETA, in truth many of the storms go northeast once they get into the middle latitudes.  But they start father south and get driven west first by the trades, or they form in the gulf.

max says:

"I have

no.

freaking.

clue."

I truly lol'ed, thanks.    

Now if only we could find someone who would say that about stock market ups & downs....

It is now a category 3 and is the farthest east in the Atlantic a category 3 has ever been recorded. Looks like it will hit Ireland as a category 1. 

This track is not uncommon or unexpected. The jet stream in that region is *always* from the west, meaning it pushes storms from west to east. Many large, powerful extratropical cyclones take this track all year long. 

Hurricanes that impact the US are not embedded within regions of westerly jets, hence their eastward motion. 

The jet is also responsible for Ophelia’s strength right now. SSTs are cold in that region. 25° doesn’t get it done for a tropical system without significant upper level support. The storm is in the perfect location compared to the jet to remain intense.

rcarter31 said:

Max or others,

Help us understand why Ophelia steered to the north and east???

Almost every other one seems to go west/north west...

Also seems very, very uncommon that the UK gets a hurricane...

Best Regards,

Ron Carter