WASHINGTON/RIO DE JANEIRO (March 26) - The first hurricane ever reported in the south Atlantic swirled off the coast of Brazil on Friday, and forecasters said it could make landfall in the South American country during the weekend.
Although it was far outside their usual territory, forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami were helping the Brazilian Weather Service to track the unprecedented system.
"There's problems that happen when hurricanes occur in areas that we've never seen before," said hurricane center meteorologist Eric Blake.
He said the storm was a Category 1 hurricane -- the least powerful on forecasters' five-level scale -- with winds somewhere between 74 and 95 miles per hour.
"It's about 225 miles east-southeast of the Brazilian coast and it's moving westward at about 7 miles per hour," he said.
Blake said some of the forecasting computer models showed the storm turning away from the coast before making landfall, but he said it was too soon to say if that would happen.
"It has an eye and thunderstorms around the center, and we're looking at the possibility of (landfall in) southeast Brazil sometime tomorrow or the next day," he said.
However, Brazil's state Weather Forecasting and Climatic Studies Center (CPTEC) played down the U.S. hurricane classification.
"Our information shows that it is not a hurricane. We still classify it as a tropical cyclone," Virginia Nogueira, a duty meteorologist, told Reuters.
"The forecast is that it will come closer to the coast, provoking rains in the southern states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, and strong winds, but not causing anything very unusual," she said.
Ports in southern Brazil said earlier no preparations were being made for the storm and work continued as usual.
A hurricane has never previously been reported in the south Atlantic. Blake said there have been "questionable" tropical weather systems tracked in the area before, but none had developed into a hurricane.
"This one's broken all the rules," he said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a rogue storm? A peculiar misfit? Or the sign of changing weather patterns? Interesting, either way.
CON207 From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2003, 292 posts, RR: 12 Reply 3, posted (9 years 1 month 3 weeks 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 994 times:
What with global warming affecting the world all over it comes as no surprise to me that this phenomenar has occurred. El Nino is getting more and more powerful and it looks set to get worse.
If a hurricane can develop in the South Atlantic then take this as a warning of things to come. The Hurricane season could be very interesting later this year.
Aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8355 posts, RR: 47 Reply 4, posted (9 years 1 month 3 weeks 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 980 times:
From what I've read, Brazilian meteorologists say it's not a Hurricane because the centre of the storm is colder than the boundary (or whatever is the right word). If it was indeed a hurricane, that would be the other way around. Also, the winds of that storm are circling in one direction from the bottom to the top, which would be different if it was a hurricane. (information gathered on http://www.globo.com/)
Whatever that storm may have been, it has reached speeds of up to 150 km/h and caused waves of up to five metres. It has killed at least two people and destroyed the homes of hundreds. Several towns have no electric power, and four boats/ships have disappeared.
(EDITed to make the link work)
[Edited 2004-03-28 19:41:06]
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
Derico From Argentina, joined Dec 1999, 4233 posts, RR: 13 Reply 5, posted (9 years 1 month 3 weeks 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 975 times:
Aloges,
In a tropical cyclone, the winds do circle from the bottom to the top, this is what gives the vertical rise to the storms and feeds the whole storm...
I was watching TV when they passed the news about this bizarre 'hurricane-like' storm in the South Atlantic. As far as I know I have never heard of a tropical cyclone in the south atlantic before, because the conditions in the atmosphere (even though the waters off Brazil are rather warm), are not conducive for them to form. Then I saw the thread here about it. In any event, even if this has never happened before, it does not mean it's not a tropical cyclone. Yet the Brazilian government denies it is a warm-water storm, even as meteorologists from the rest of the world were stating otherwise.
Why are the Brazilian authorities stubborn in their conclusions, even as satellite pictures make it visually quite obvious it is a tropical system? Anyone with a basic knowledge of weather would know that this can't be a mid-latitude storm because it was traveling east TO west! That's Meteorology 101. Being early fall in the southern hemisphere, the storm track of low pressure systems and cold fronts is still to the south in Argentina. That is not an jet stream storm, period.
Now it may be that it is not a hurricane exactly either, so in fact the Brazilians are right in a way. Hurricanes and Typhoons for example tend to be almost identical but meteorologists have stated that there are a couple of minor technical differences between them. There are also slight but greater differences between these and cyclones that form in the South Pacific and Indian oceans. Since no one has ever seen one in the South Atlantic before, it could be that tropical systems that rarely form there are slightly different from a 'classic' northern hemisphere storm.
So far 2 people have been confirmed dead, homes destroyed, and people are missing, including several mariners. The Brazilian government in my opinion was negligent. Even a little bit of preparation (which these cyclones can afford unlike most other phenomena, INCLUDING mid-latitude storms), could have saved those lives and perhaps others as well as property. Instead they were busy trying to contradict American and European scientists.
My internet was not shut down, the internet has shut me down
Aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8355 posts, RR: 47 Reply 6, posted (9 years 1 month 3 weeks 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 971 times:
Oh, I'm not trying to defend any Brazilian (or other) officials! I'm quite certain that they'll do their damndest to convince everyone that they were right, and that it was not a tropical hurricane, but a subtropical cyclone. As if it mattered to those whose children were killed or whose houses were destroyed.
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
USAFHummer From United States of America, joined May 2000, 10685 posts, RR: 54 Reply 8, posted (9 years 1 month 3 weeks 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 935 times:
I'll ask my climate professor about this on Tuesday, see what she has to say about it...
Greg
Chief A.net college football stadium self-pic guru
Sponsor Message: 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From New Zealand, joined Dec 2003, 4204 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2003, 292 posts, 
From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8355 posts, 
From Argentina, joined Dec 1999, 4233 posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
Printer friendly format 
