TROPICAL ATLANTIC HURRICANE ASSEMBLY LINE

A triple threat?
Courtesy of The NHC

Hurricane Danielle was recent upgraded to a Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale (Hurricane version of the well known Richter scale), and according to The National Hurricane Center shows signs of being upgraded again in the coming hours. Danielle is currently only 1 MPH short of being a Category 3 Hurricane with maximum winds reaching 110 MPH at present time.



Tropical Storm Earl follows close behind Danielle, and although it has not been named a hurricane yet, is expected to become a hurricane within the next 48 hrs, and continue down Danielle's path until it also becomes a Category 3 Hurricane, as stated by the NHC.



Currently Meteorologist's do not expect either storm to hit US land due to a low pressure system on the East coast. However, they did state that once this system lifts, they do expect the Gulf & Florida to be hit by coming storms.



As If Danielle and Earl weren't already canoodling close enough together, The NHC is also tracking another area of weather(Possible name Fiona), near Cape Verde, which they say shows a 60% chance of forming into a Tropical Cyclone within the next 48 hours.



I'll continue to update this as the Categories change, using my iPhone Pacific Disaster Center App. For more information on the Conga Line in the Atlantic please visit the PDC, or the NHC website.



UPDATES:

Danielle: As of 5 AM, Friday August 27th, Hurricane Danielle was elevated to a Category 4 hurricane with maximum winds reaching 135 MPH, moving northwest at appx 12 MPH.

Tropical Storm Earl: not much current change here, but forecasters due expect this storm to intensify.

Possible TS Fiona: As of this morning, this area of disturbed weather now has a 70% chance of becoming a tropical cyclone.

xoxo disaster girl

OUR SHRINKING MOON

"The moon has been shrinking, suggest scientists who spotted relatively young geological features that form when a planetary body cools and contracts."
Courtesy of NatGeo

After reading this article, I was a bit confused.. after all I am a natural blonde and I am certainly not an astrophysicist. However, with the recent headlines from the NOAA stating that "Global Warming is Undeniable", I am having trouble understanding all of this.

According to National Geographic the moon has shrunk some 600 ft in its time around, which in comparison to how old the moon actually is (APPX 4.5 billion years old)- may seem like a small change, but it was big enough for NASA to notice. If the sun has been hotter than normal in the last couple years, wouldn't the moon be doing the opposite? Expanding instead of shrinking? Does the moon even absorb heat.. or does it simply reflect it? I haven't found a reliable answer via the net like I usually do- Maybe some lonely astrophysicist will stumble upon this page and provide an answer for me, it would certainly be appreciated. Now I know that heat doesn't travel in space the way it does on Earth, and if you didn't.. now you do. There is no "conduction" or "covection" in space the way there is on Earth, so heat is forced to travel only by radiation. However, average temperatures on the moon range from −247° to 212° Fahrenheit- which gives me the impression that at times, radiation heat from the sun is sufficient to heat it well above the temperatures Earth reaches.

On another note, maybe the shrinking of the moon has nothing to do with the moons normal absorption of the sun's regular radiation, and more as a repercussion of the sun's current CME's (solar flares), which isn't even set to hit its peak until 2012-2015.

What will the moon do next?

Personally I'd like to see it get bigger instead of smaller, but only Hollywood could provide an ending as pleasing as Sci Fi's "Impact".

xoxo disaster girl