9/19/2013 Daily Update: Delightful Thursday, Usagi Rapidly Intensifies - Becomes a Category 5 Beast

Good morning everyone!

Delightful day in the making... five stars all around. Go outside and enjoy!

TODAY: Sunny, with highs in the mid 70s to around 80 degrees. Light winds from the south.

TONIGHT: Clear skies, with lows in the mid to upper 40s. Light winds.

TOMORROW (FRIDAY!): Sunny, with highs in the mid 70s to around 80 degrees. Winds from the S at 5 mph.

The weekend should feature the arrival of showers Saturday night into Sunday. Sunday does not look good... going to be raining in the morning hours into the early afternoon. Hoping we can savor part of the afternoon and evening. From there... back to sunny and seasonable weather next week.

ATLANTIC TROPICS

• The waves keep on churning in the Bay of Campeche. The latest is Invest 95L with an opportunity to develop. However, unlike the previous storms, Invest 95L faces an uphill climb with shearing in place left from Ingrid. Going to be tough for 95L to strengthen unless conditions improve.
• Humberto, now a tropical depression, is about to leave the scene, become post-tropical and move out of here.

NATIONAL WEATHER

• Warmer air arriving in the Northeast
• Mostly dry and warm in the Southeast with a few isolated storms possible especially along the coast of Florida.
• Severe storms for parts of the Upper Midwest and Central Plains with a strong cold front pushing into the region with cooler air behind it.
• Rain and stormy in Texas triggered by an influx of tropical moisture
• Warm, dry in the West Coast

WORLD WEATHER

• Usagi in the Western Pacific underwent rapid intensification yesterday and blew up to become the first Category 5 tropical cyclone in 2013, beating Utor for strongest with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph vs. 120 mph for Utor. Taiwan is in great danger for impact as Usagi's path takes it near the southern part of the island by the weekend.
• Manuel is back to hurricane status along the Gulf of California in the Eastern Pacific and is putting a stranglehold there. Big rains and winds for the next several days.
• Cloudy and dreary with rain chances for much of Europe
• Rain keeps on coming for Victoria and Tasmania in Australia

Usagi is a 10. Look at that eye! WOW!

EARTHQUAKES

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

SPACE WEATHER

• Solar wind speed uptick could cause a minor geomagnetic storm.
• Solar activity remains low but signs of life showing with two C-class flare events in the last 24 hours. There is a small threat for an M-class flare. Percentages bumped up to 5%.

Solar activity still low.
5% chance of a solar flare in next 24 hours.