8/15/2013 Daily Update: Pleasant Thursday, Tropical Storm Erin

Good afternoon everyone!

After a cool start to the day, it's going to be another pleasant one. Beautiful weather for your Thursday and it will stay that way for the next several days.

TODAY: Sunny, with highs in the mid to upper 70s. Winds from the W at 5 to 10 mph.

TONIGHT: Mostly clear skies with lows in the upper 40s to lower 50s. Generally calm winds.

TOMORROW: Sunny, with highs in the mid 70s to near 80 degrees. Winds from the W at 5 to 10 mph.

Quiet weather lasts into Sunday. Signs of heat in the forecast for next week.

ATLANTIC TROPICS

Courtesy of http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo_atl.shtml

• Tropical Depression 5 became Tropical Storm Erin out in the eastern Atlantic. The storm is expected to trek west across the Atlantic in the next 5 days. No threat to land in the near future.
• The tropical wave (Invest 92L) spinning in the Yucatan Peninsula has lost its circulation last night. But with moderate shear and hot water temperatures, we should start to see 92L slowly organizing. Due to the fact it is moving over the peninsula, we will have to wait until it returns back to water for future development. NHC gives it a 50/50 chance of it developing in the next 48 hours.

NATIONAL WEATHER

• Beautiful weather for the Northeast. Can't ask for anything more. :)
• Downpours and storms continue to plague the Southeast. Very humid and soupy conditions.
• Pleasant weather in the Missouri Valley points east. Some afternoon thunderstorms, though, west of there in the Plains with strong to severe potential in western Kansas and western Oklahoma.
• Dry and seasonable weather for the West Coast and the Rocky Mountains region. Hot in the Pacific Northwest. Cooler along the coast of Washington and Oregon with shower potential from onshore flow from coastal low in the Pacific.

WORLD WEATHER

• What is left of Utor continues to be a big rainmaker for Southeast China and Northern Vietnam capable of flash flooding and landslides. Utor is blamed for 1 death in China and 8 deaths in the Philippines. The storm has also sunk ships along the Chinese coastline.
• Mainly quiet and seasonable weather for Europe with showers and isolated thunderstorm chances inland. Dry weather won't last for long as a low pressure in the Northern Atlantic with associated cold front arrives on Friday/Saturday
• Gusty showers for parts of Southern Australia from a cold front. Dry for the rest of the continent.

EARTHQUAKES

• There were no earthquakes rated at or above M6 yesterday or so far today.

SPACE WEATHER

Courtesy of spaceweather.com

• Minor geomagnetic instability yesterday with Kp index reaching 4 last night for a brief time.
• Magnetic fields on Sunspots 1817 and 1818 have decayed but still a threat for M-class flares. NOAA puts the probabilities of an M-class flare in the next 24 hours at 30%.
• Solar wind from a coronal hole is now projected to arrive during the weekend.