March 1961 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 147 CORRESPONDENCE Comments on “The Weather and Circulation of July

• Main Authors: R. A. Hornstein, J. W. Posey
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Extended Forecast Division; NMC; Weather Bureau; ESSA; Washington; Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.395.1658; http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/095/mwr-095-03-0147.pdf

The discussions of tropical storms Becky and Celia by Mr. Posey [l] do not agree with analyses carried out in this office. Ever since the disastrous Northumberland Strait Storm [2] forecasting meteorologists in eastern Canada have been keenly watchful of small storms of tropical origin. The disturbance which eventually developed into Becky was first detected in the ESSA 2 photograph of June 29 (Pass 1534), and the photograph taken by Nimbus 2, Pass 630, 1500 GMT July 1 showed well-defined spiral bands, a definite circulation center, and indications of an eye. The ESSA 2 photograph of July 2 (Pass 1572) indicated a mature storm. At 0000 GMT July 3 a ship near 42 ’ N. reported wind gusts of 65 kt. By 1200 GMT July 3 the circulation center was about 150 mi. east of Sable Island, was moving northwestward, and could still be identified in the ESSA 2 photograph (Pass 1585). Becky was not dropped from the surface charts until 0000 GMT July 4 when its remnants were close to Cape Breton. Celia appeared to have two distinct lives of at least a quasi-tropical nature, the later of which was carried on our surface charts from July 19 to 22. The existence and position of the circulation were corroborated also by the satellite photographs during this period, e.g., ESSA 2, Pass 1813 on July 21 and ESSA 2, Pass 1827 on July 22. On July 21 the storm passed very close to Sable Island, where the sea level pressure fell 7 mb. in slightly over one hour prior to the passage of the storm, and it was still identifiable when it passed over the southwestern tip of Newfoundland early on July 22.