More tropical trouble as Wilfred is hours away from being named

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – No sooner than Sally category 2 hurricane pushed onshore into Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida, Major Hurricane Teddy became a category 4 monster and a swirl in the Gulf of Mexico developed a circulation.

Tropical depression #22, according to nearly all of the hurricane intensity models, will quickly spin up into Wilfred. By Friday evening, the system will have acquired tropical storm force winds (sustained winds of 40 mph or greater) and the hurricane center will make the announcement, that they are officially out of names for this season. Only the season of 2005 have we done this since lists of names were announce ahead of each season. Up next? The Greek alphabet starting with, of course, Alpha.

Note on the picture below that the “cone of uncertainty” becomes a bulb, this is an indication that the forecast from the National Hurricane Center has unusually high levels of uncertainty, basically a low confidence forecast. The good news is that this will be a slow moving system.