The tropical Atlantic is quiet this morning with no areas of concern. The only area to watch this week is off of the US Southeast coast. A frontal boundary will be stalled in this area this week with areas of low pressure rippling along the front throughout the week. It appears that in all likelihood that these low pressure systems will be non-tropical in nature and will be swept out into the open Atlantic fairly quickly. However, this area should be watched to see if any of these low pressure systems may try to acquire tropical characteristics as it tracks northeast into the open Atlantic.
A tropical wave over the eastern Caribbean is tracking west and is producing showers and thunderstorms over Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and will begin affecting Jamaica later today. Environmental conditions are unfavorable for development and I’m not expecting much from this tropical wave in terms of tropical cyclone development.
Long Range Possibilities:
Most of the model guidance to some degree are forecasting that a tropical wave will emerge off of the coast of Africa this coming weekend into early next week, but development into a tropical cyclone is highly uncertain. The long range GFS and to some extent the Canadian model forecasts that this wave will develop into a tropical cyclone by the middle of next week; in fact, the GFS model develops this system into a strong tropical storm, while the European and NOGAPS models do nothing with this tropical wave.
Here is my thinking: Based on the GFS model’s past forecasts this season so far, I think this is a “ghost” storm and I will believe it when I see it. The eastern Atlantic is pretty much closed down for business right now due to very dry air capping anything that comes off of Africa. If these GFS model runs start showing consistency and properly moves it down in time-increments or if some of the other reliable models start showing the same thing, then I will sit up and start paying attention. Enviornmental conditions are not favorable right now, however, development chances should start increasing towards the end of July when we get the MJO upward motion pulse back into the Atlantic.
Finally, if you are bored today, either at home or at work, and like to look at model guidance runs; take a look at the long range CFS model. This model goes out to 9 months from now at 12 hour increments. For instance, if you want to look at a model map 600 hours from now (25 days from now), you will need to divide that 600 hours by 12 and you get 50. Enter that 50 number into the query box of the following WEB PAGE and click submit and it will bring up a model map. It is a pretty cool webpage, however, it’s forecast maps should obviously be taken with a pound of salt and should be used more as “entertainment” than anything. Do not make specific plans based on just this model, especially that far out.
The next tropical weather discussion will be issued by 6 am EDT Wednesday morning. No tropical weather discussions will be issued on Tuesday.
Infrared Satellite Imagery:
Current Wind Shear Analysis:








HIGH RES RADAR AS OF 8:38 PM CDT 
