Safe Ridge Developing For Northern Central Gulf?

[deltadog03]

The kind of set-up we have now would put TX in a great risk for tropical systems to head our way!!

[AussieMark]

On the downside of things, we can now expect heat indexes in August to be touching 120 degrees

Let' see if I lived in N.O. and I had a choice between a let's say Cat 4-5 hurricane and a heatwave hmmmm.....I think I would take the heatwave.

I'd be the same in Houston, as well. Anywhere, along the GOM, this year. If the ridge does hold, with some shifts W and E this Summer, I'm concerned by late June we could see a return to Summer 1980, when we had somewhat of a similar set-up, and a large swath of the Gulf South experienced day in and day out temperatures over 105F...with very dry conditions. It's still early. In regards, to hurricanes, we have some more time to watch, but, the present set-up would send GOM hurricanes to Texas, and the East coast could get socked as storms go between this ridge and the Bermuda high up the East coast.

In '80 if I recall, there weren't even any east coast threats to speak of, as most of the storms formed very far in the eastern tropical Atlantic and recurved east of the '50's. Allen was the only long tracker that year, riding under the ridge all the way westward into the RGV.

1980's was a different phase to what we have now tho keep in mind

[Agua]

Certainly have a ridge over us now, which is keeping us hot and dry. And the ridge is getting pretty solid..it's been in place, now, for several weeks. Carl Arredondo, on WWL-TV, in New Orleans, says that if this ridge remains peristent, we could see a return to many East coast storms for this season, as has been discussed by quite a few mets and specialists. As Carl says, "Not to say that we won't have any storms in the Gulf, but, the ridge, as it is now, will be a good thing for the Northern Central Gulf. It's still early, but, we are heading into a Summer pattern, as June approaches, and these Summer ridges that develop are quite persistent and stubborn...it usually takes fronts or a major change in patterns to move these Summer ridges. We'll see...we've got some time, for sure, but, obviously, Summer is setting itself up, right now, as it does every year in early June.