Friday, September 2, 2011

Lee dealing with shear, New Orleans getting a nonstop, wet taste of Lee

Here is a visible satellite image of Tropical Storm Lee churning in the Gulf. Lee is currently a fairly weak tropical storm, with winds of 40 MPH. Most of Lee's convection is stationed on the eastern side of this storm, due to shearing on the western portion of the storm. This shows what could be Lee's center of circulation exposed, but that remains to be seen.
Here's another view of Lee, showing the coldest cloud tops, indicating where the strongest convection is. As these bands of storm rotate around the center of circulation, keep in mind that these rain bands are already affecting New Orleans. And while Lee will probably stay in the Gulf for another 24 hours at least, new Orleans could be in for quite a flooding situation. Below is the storm total rainfall accumulation, and below that is the HPC's 5 day rainfall forecast.

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