Weather Update - Hurricane Rafael Falls Apart

Rafael will be remembered as we move into 2025 as it is part of next year's LRC

Welcome to this tropical update and discussion on the evolving weather pattern. Was Rafael the last named storm of the season?

This satellite picture shows Hurricane Rafael over the Gulf of Mexico on November 8, 2024. Also well defined is a storm system over the Rocky Mountain states extending out into the plains. This what we call a Mid-Latitude Synoptic Scale Cyclone. I will discuss these features in a bit more detail in Tuesday’s report as this is a likely important “player” in the weather pattern that will cycle through many more times between now and next Hurricane Season.

Here is today’s video explanation:

Rafael is the 17th named storm of the 2024 Hurricane Season. We will do a full season recap in a couple weeks. As you may be aware, Weather 20/20 predicted that there would be 14-19 named storms this season, while most others predicted well over 20 named storms. There is a lot to discuss here, but let me work on that post season analysis and we will discuss here soon. There may still be one more named storm, but there aren’t any showing up at the moment and hurricane season ends in three weeks.

The LRC is in the first cycle of this year’s pattern and it is unique. The entire USA was mostly dry and warm during the first half of October, but something has shifted. We will discuss on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend. Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts.

Gary Lezak