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Tropical Storm Katia Forms In The Atlantic

30 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Tropical Storm Jose came and went while Hurricane and then Tropical Storm Irene caused flooding in Vermont not seen since the 1927 Tropical Storm drenched the state, but the East Coast needs to start worrying about the next storm- Tropical Storm Katia. As of 5pm ET, Katia had hit 60 miles per hour and was heading west at a rather brisk 20 miles per hour. While the storm is still out at sea, it is heading pretty directly towards the South.

According to the US National Hurricane Center, the storm is expected to become a hurricane by Wednesday. Currently, the USNHC is only able to predict that the storm will be major and will head north and east of the Caribbean’s Leeward Islands by Sunday. It is not clear if Katia will hit the Carolinas or anywhere else in the States.

NHC Senior Hurricane Specialist Richard Pasch told Rueters that “It’s still well out to sea. A lot of things can happen … We don’t show it affecting any land areas for five days. Beyond that is merely speculation.” Still, the East Coast and the Caribbean should be keeping an eye on the storm. Currently, it is about 750 miles west-southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands, which means that it is still very far out in the Atlantic.

The name Katia replaces the name Katrina on the list of hurricanes.

While some people are citing long range predictions, Pasch makes it clear that those are highly unstable in terms of predictive value. “You can look at what the long range forecasts did with Irene, taking it across Miami, which of course didn’t happen,” he stated. The NHC’s forecast for just the next five days is in the form of a 250-mile wide cone. According to MSNBC “Pasch said Katia’s likely track in about a week’s time will depend on shifting weather patterns over the Atlantic and the U.S. coast — troughs and ridges that will steer the gyrating storm in one direction or another.”

Katia is expected to become a Category 3 hurricane by Sunday.