Isabel's formation.... Is it just me?

[opera ghost]

Is it just me or is her formation less *looking for the right word* dense (Cloud wise) than other storms of her magnitude? I keep looking at pictures of equally strong hurricanes and I see super dense clouds surrounding the eyewall for miles and miles... But Issy still seems like she's hobbling along without the massive cloud support?

Is this just another feature of the uniqueness of hurricanes... an indication of her intensity... a factor of the current conditions.. or is there another reason?

[ALhurricane]

I'm not quite sure what you are referring to. Looking at recent satellite imagery, Isabel has a very intense inner core and the eye is becoming better defined. Outlflow also appears to be improving in the northern quadrant.

All in all, this is a very intense hurricane that shows signs of further strengthening. The physical size is not what is important..Andrew was a rather small storm and Floyd was huge in size.

[opera ghost]

Oh I agree wholeheartedly *smiles happily* and she's a real beauty- for somethign so deadly.

I was just currious about what the differences might mean- since I want to learn more. thoguth this was a good place to ask!

Take these two pictures- one of Andrew (since he was mentioned), and one of Isa

Andrew:

Isabel:

Andrew is (again I'm looking for the right word and substituting for something similar) Flatter. The cloud density from the center out is very uniform and alltogether more like a solid wall of cloud from the air. Isabel certainly looks more interesting- but less like what I've seen in lookgin around- her bands are visable from the air, and the "flat" area of her is much much smaller than average.

I'm currious what might cause this- not calling her a small or weak storm *grins*

[calidoug]

Andrew was small, tiny even, for its intensity.

Isabel is large, though currently outflow is constrained to the N by the ridge.

If you looked at equally scaled pictures, you'd see this.

Doug