Though not significant...a few showers will move through the area Thursday. Rainfall will be less than a quarter of an inch -- & for most spots -- less than a tenth of an inch. Temperatures will continue to be mild with the pleasant temps. continuing through Sat. before a sharp warm-up Sun. ahead of a pretty strong cold front that will roll through the First Coast Mon.
The tropics are quiet but that doesn't mean the National Hurricane Center isn't busy. Forecasters work on post-storm analysis & summaries until all the research is complete. The "Karen" analysis from Sept. has been finished & the tropical cyclone has been upgraded to a hurricane for a brief time during its tenure over the open Atlantic. Such a possibility was actually noted in one of their original "Karen" discussions because a U.S. AF Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft arrived at "Karen" & found winds very near hurricane strength -- about 12 hours after satellite data showed a more organized & stronger system. Other than a statistical note, it's not particularly significant. The upgrade of "Karen" raises the # of hurricanes this season to 6. Click here for the full NHC "Karen" summary. I'll post Fri. -- the last official day of the hurricane season -- a summary & some personal notes regarding the season.
We've had lots of beach erosion problems on the First Coast the last few months. Here's a classic example of the same problem in N.C. as noted by "Earth Gauge" & photographer Gary Braasch.
The side-by-side photographs of a house near the town of Rodanthe, NC on Cape Hatteras, illustrate just how quickly a seascape can change. The photograph on the left was taken in 1999. The one on the right was taken just five years later in 2004. Along the North Carolina Coast, the mean sea level is rising by an average of one inch per decade. Notice that in the 1999 photo, the house and road sit on a level, vegetated area known as a berm, which is a few feet higher than the sandy, grass-free beach. The sloped dividing line between the berm and the beach is called a beach scarp. In the 2004 photograph, the house no longer sits on the berm but is instead just a few feet from the surf. The beach scarp is now between the house and the road.
The American Bird Conservancy has issued their 2007 "Species of Greatest Risk". According to the report, nearly 80 species in the Lower 48 & nearly 40 species
in Hawaii are in "peril". There are some 700 bird species nationwide. Click here for the info. -- great bird pic's, by the way.
