Truly Bizarre Weather

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Extraordinarily surprised forecasters at the National Hurricane Center scrambled Friday to help Brazilian meteorologists track the first hurricane ever reported in the South Atlantic.

The stealth hurricane, located about 275 miles off Brazil's southern coast, has no name because it's not supposed to be there. No one was even sure who was responsible to track it.

''It appears that we have our first ever South Atlantic hurricane, at least the first we know of,'' said Jack Beven, a forecaster at the hurricane center in West Miami-Dade County. ``We're all kind of scratching our heads over here. We're not exactly geared up for this area.''

Data about the storm were scarce, but Beven said he believed it was a minimal Category 1 hurricane, with wind of 74-95 mph. It appeared to be drifting slowly toward Brazil, but it was too early to say if it would strike land.

He said forecasters at the hurricane center were attempting to help Brazilian meteorologists, who may have other things to worry about but have never before seen a hurricane.

''We know there hasn't been a hurricane in that area since at least the satellite era, the mid-60s at the minimum,'' Beven said.

He emphasized that the storm was a meteorological curiosity and had nothing to do with South Florida's week of wind or chances of getting struck by a hurricane this year. Our six-month hurricane season begins June 1.

''This has no predictive value at all for the normal Atlantic season,'' he said.



[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] has a satellite photo of this oddity.

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Oh how very strange!

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An update:

Forecasters tracking first-ever South Atlantic hurricane
By Jack Williams, USATODAY.com

The first hurricane ever known to have formed over the South Atlantic Ocean could threaten the coast of Brazil by early next week.

Satellite images "give all the appearance of a hurricane" with sustained winds faster than 75 mph, says Jack Beven of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. But no ships have reported wind speeds from anywhere near the storm.

He and other hurricane specialists at the Center are helping Brazil's civilian and military forecasters track and predict the storm, something Brazilian meteorologists have never had to do.

Friday afternoon the storm was centered about 260 miles east of Florianopolis, Brazil, and is likely to continue moving slowly to the west and maybe turn to the south to miss Brazil completely. (Related: Forecasts for Florianopolis, Brazil)

While the National Hurricane Center is working with Brazilian meteorologists, Brazil would issue any needed storm advisories.

"We are trying to run our hurricane forecast models, but they are structured for the North Atlantic," Beven says. "Some just flat out refused to run."

Computer models that are working disagree with one saying the storm could hit Brazil, and the other two saying it should turn to the south, but with the two disagreeing on how close to land it will be when it turns.

The storm has no name since unlike in the parts of the world where hurricanes and similar storms are common, forecasters have never made a list of South Atlantic names.

Beven says meteorologists can't be sure that a hurricane never formed in the South Atlantic before satellites begin keeping an eye on all of the world's oceans in 1960. In fact, Bevin said, if a hurricane had formed before 1960 where the new one is now located, no one would have known about it.

Meteorologists, know of two South Atlantic storms that probably reached 39 mph tropical storm strength.

The latest formed Jan. 19 of this year east of Salvador, Brazil, but weakened before "drifting" ashore, Beven says.

A storm that formed off the coast of Africa in April 1991 is also believed to have reached tropical storm strength, but like the January storm, did not come close to growing into a 75 mph hurricane.

While the tropical part of the South Atlantic Ocean has large areas with the 80-degree or warmer ocean temperatures needed to sustain hurricanes, upper atmosphere winds are usually blowing much faster than winds near the surface or in the opposite direction. Such "wind shear" can rip apart storms before they grow into hurricanes.

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The aftermath:

Top Stories - Reuters

One Dead, 3,000 Homeless from Brazil Cyclone

By Andrei Khalip

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - A rare cyclone bringing howling winds and rain to southern Brazil killed at least one person and made more than 3,000 homeless overnight, civil defense officials said on Sunday.


Civil Defense Capt. Marcio Luiz Alves said some 3,000 people in the southern state of Santa Catarina had to abandon their homes damaged or destroyed by winds, rain or waves. In neighboring Rio Grande do Sul state, 150 families were made homeless, state authorities said.


A tree that fell on a moving car killed the driver and seriously injured his wife. A fishing boat sunk off the Santa Catarina coast and its crew of five were missing. At least three other boats were not accounted for and Navy ships were looking for the missing fishermen.


Brazil's official weather service has denied the weather phenomenon is Brazil's first hurricane as U.S. meteorologists said earlier, but officials acknowledged winds were too strong for a common cyclone.


"It was born as an extratropical cyclone that we know, but then it started changing, becoming an atypical and abnormal case," said Gustavo Escobar, a meteorologist with the state Weather Forecasting and Climatic Studies Center.


According to some reports, winds gusted up to 95 mph in some areas of Santa Catarina in the early hours of Sunday, whipping up 16-foot waves.


The wind and rain lashed 20 municipalities in Santa Catarina, Alves said. The authorities had yet to obtain damage assessment from 11 municipalities due to blocked access and broken communications.


"They say it wasn't a hurricane, but the official weather service also had not warned us of anything as strong as that," Alves said.


He said the winds eased after the cyclone hit a mountain range, although the weather service said there may be more strong winds during the day on Sunday.


Alves said an early storm warning allowed civil defense officials to warn residents and many had left the shore area.


On Friday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (news - web sites) in Miami said the first hurricane ever in the South Atlantic was forming off the coast of Brazil, classifying it as a Category 1 hurricane -- the least powerful on forecasters' five-level scale, with winds between 74 and 95 mph.


Brazil's state weather service said that the eye of a hurricane is hotter than its edges, while the center of the weather system that formed above colder waters in South Atlantic was cold, which meant it was an extratropical cyclone.