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July 22, 2008
Posted: 10:14 AM ET

Still at Tropical Storm status as of Tuesday morning, Dolly is beginning to kick up a breeze on Texas’s South Padre Island. The National Hurricane Center track has the storm coming in midday Wednesday, probably as a weak hurricane. In its path are the cities of the Rio Grande Valley — McAllen, Harlingen, and Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros and Reynosa, Mexico.

The real threat from Dolly may not be storm surge, though the Padre Island resorts are bracing for it. The inland border cities, as well as Monterrey, Mexico, could see flooding from heavy rains. Monterrey is an industrial city of four million an hour’s drive from the Rio Grande.

Hurricane Emily hit the same area of the coast as a Category Three storm in July 2005. While Dolly will almost certainly not be quite as strong, Emily could be a preview of the potential for this storm.

Peter Dykstra, Executive Producer, CNN Science, Tech, & Weather

Filed under: Weather • hurricanes


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Franko   July 22nd, 2008 3:55 pm ET

Dont worry, the border patrol will maintain it’s reputation
The Drones and other high teck devices, will keet it from picking fruit for US.

S Callahan   July 22nd, 2008 6:56 pm ET

From CNN news I understand that it is hurricane strength now….and it’s not to hit until late Wednesday (giving it more time to intensify?). I wish the residents of the affected areas much safety.

Peter, aside from the hurricane..I recently read an article about clouds acting in the fashion of very large waves (almost like very large/high rippled ocean waves above the earth)….curious as to why that happens (i’m definately not one to know much about meterology but willing to learn)…

pdykstra   July 22nd, 2008 7:41 pm ET

For S. Callahan, one of our best and most frequent contributors:

The good news is that Dolly, in all likelihood, won’t make it too far into the hurricane scale — now forecast as a weak Category One on landfall tomorrow. Landfall could be as early as 9AM Wednesday.

Water temps in that part of the Gulf of Mexico are a bit lower than elsewhere — the charts I saw Tuesday read 83 or 84 degrees Fahrenheit near the South Texas coastline.

And now, the disclaimer: I studied Journalism in school, I’m not a Meteorologist, I’m just the Management Weasel here who supervises the Meteorologists. But the one thing I’ve learned from our talented and learned staff is that Meteorologists need to cover their butts(at least until we totally control the weather). So keep an eye on Dolly tomorrow. If you click on the NHC link above (or http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
you’ll be taken to the most recent update.

As far as the cloud question you’ve asked, I’d leave it to the real meteorologists. I know it doesn’t apply in a cyclonic storm like Dolly.
If you go to NASA’s “Modis” gallery of satellite photos, you’ll see some amazing shots of wave-like cloud formations

Peter Dykstra

CB_Brooklyn   July 22nd, 2008 8:11 pm ET

Not many know that a major hurricane - Hurricane Erin - was in the Atlantic Ocean in September of 2001. In fact, Erin was closest to NYC, and at its largest size, on 9/11 itself. But the TV news networks had little reporting on this hurricane. Contrary to Erin, however, Hurricane Katrina had virtually 24 hour coverage, even before it hit land. Interestingly, Erin was stronger than Katrina the day before 9/11. So why didn’t the media cover Erin, say, on September 10? The astronauts in the space station commented on the WTC smoke plume, but made no mention of the monstrous hurricane next to it. How come? Those interested in learning the secret between hurricanes and Tesla Coils should see Dr Judy Wood’s new paper “9/11 Weather Anomalies and Field Effects”. She presents evidence suggesting Erin was part of the mechanism used to turn the Twin Towers to dust. The paper is chock full of photos and analysis and is highly recommended:

http://drjudywood.com/articles/erin

S Callahan   July 22nd, 2008 9:20 pm ET

Thanks Peter..lol i’m a troll…love to learn..and see others views…:-)

What do you mean ‘until we totally control the weather!’ ..lol joke..had to say that

Franko   July 23rd, 2008 1:43 am ET

“clouds acting in the fashion of very large waves” Google: Gravity wave
Bouyancy, momentum transfer, etc. made visible, as in a cloud chamber.

Surface and outer space set the boundary conditions.
Add inputs like tides, and sunlight. Try various appoximations, tipping points ?
High warm humidity above ocean, rising, cooling, to form clouds on top.

All we have are better and better approximations.
To get it almost exact, is the challenge.

S Callahan   July 23rd, 2008 5:11 pm ET

Dolly is not being very nice right now…how will this affect the levees in Texas?

Franko   July 23rd, 2008 10:32 pm ET

Dolly is not a Devil, but is the show off daughter of Mother Gaia,
Improving Earth, optimizing for maximum population.
Promoting tourism, but where is the Nobel Prize ?

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