Tropical Depression Omar stirs rough surf along East Coast
By
Maura Kelly, AccuWeather meteorologist &
Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Aug 31, 2020 4:21 PM EDT
With the dissipation of former Hurricane Laura, the tropical Atlantic settled down over this past weekend, but the break in tropical activity did not last long.
Late Monday afternoon, Tropical Depression 15 took shape off the East Coast of the United States. Just 24 hours later, the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Omar, the fifteenth named tropical system of the record-setting 2020 hurricane season.
By Wednesday afternoon, Omar weakened into a tropical depression well north of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph.
This image, captured early Wednesday morning, September 2, 2020, shows Omar pulling away from the coast of North Carolina. (NOAA/GOES-East)
Omar developed from a disturbance that moved off of the coast of northern Florida on Sunday and over the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The warm water combined with low wind shear allowed the disturbance to organize and strengthen into a tropical depression by Monday evening and a tropical storm just one day later.
A system in the Caribbean became Tropical Storm Nana during the midday hours on Tuesday.
Nana is forecast to become the Atlantic's next hurricane and will send heavy rain and the risk of life-threatening mudslides and flash flooding into part of Central America later this week.
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The strong winds aloft were shearing off the top part of the storm and causing Omar to lean heavily to the northeast.
Through the second half of the week, the storm is forecast to track to the northeast into the northern Atlantic Ocean, where cooler water should lead to its demise.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic, there are multiple disturbances that have moved off the coast of Africa or will do so in the coming days this week.
The chance of development with these features in the southeastern part of the basin are low in the short-term, but higher in the long-term. Conditions may allow for development as they drift westward in the coming days.
September is typically the busiest month for tropical storm development, and the peak date for tropical activity is usually around Sept. 10. Over the past 100 years on this date, there have been more than 90 active named storms.
The 2020 season has already produced 15 named storms, which is not only well ahead of the average pace, but also in record territory, even surpassing the infamous 2005 season. The year 2005 brought devastating storms, including Katrina, Rita and Wilma. This year, Cristobal and all the storms from Edouard through Omar set early-season formation records for their respective letters.
With Omar forming off the U.S. East Coast this week, it has set another early-season formation record. Before Omar, Ophelia held the early formation record for the “O”-named storm on Sept. 7, 2005.
Seven named systems have made landfall in the continental U.S. this year -- a new record for the end of August. Laura's landfall on Aug. 27, broke previous records set in 1886 and 1916 when six storms struck the continental U.S. through the end of August, according to Colorado State University Meteorologist Phil Klotzbach. In addition to Laura, Marco, Isaias, Hanna, Fay, Cristobal and Bertha all made landfall this year.
Additional landfalls are likely in the U.S. prior to the end of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. AccuWeather meteorologists, led by hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski, predicted up to 10 landfalls in the U.S. this season in what is expected to be an extremely active peak hurricane season.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo
News / Hurricane
Tropical Depression Omar stirs rough surf along East Coast
By Maura Kelly, AccuWeather meteorologist & Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Aug 31, 2020 4:21 PM EDT
With the dissipation of former Hurricane Laura, the tropical Atlantic settled down over this past weekend, but the break in tropical activity did not last long.
Late Monday afternoon, Tropical Depression 15 took shape off the East Coast of the United States. Just 24 hours later, the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Omar, the fifteenth named tropical system of the record-setting 2020 hurricane season.
By Wednesday afternoon, Omar weakened into a tropical depression well north of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph.
This image, captured early Wednesday morning, September 2, 2020, shows Omar pulling away from the coast of North Carolina. (NOAA/GOES-East)
Omar developed from a disturbance that moved off of the coast of northern Florida on Sunday and over the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The warm water combined with low wind shear allowed the disturbance to organize and strengthen into a tropical depression by Monday evening and a tropical storm just one day later.
A system in the Caribbean became Tropical Storm Nana during the midday hours on Tuesday.
Nana is forecast to become the Atlantic's next hurricane and will send heavy rain and the risk of life-threatening mudslides and flash flooding into part of Central America later this week.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
The strong winds aloft were shearing off the top part of the storm and causing Omar to lean heavily to the northeast.
Through the second half of the week, the storm is forecast to track to the northeast into the northern Atlantic Ocean, where cooler water should lead to its demise.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic, there are multiple disturbances that have moved off the coast of Africa or will do so in the coming days this week.
The chance of development with these features in the southeastern part of the basin are low in the short-term, but higher in the long-term. Conditions may allow for development as they drift westward in the coming days.
September is typically the busiest month for tropical storm development, and the peak date for tropical activity is usually around Sept. 10. Over the past 100 years on this date, there have been more than 90 active named storms.
The 2020 season has already produced 15 named storms, which is not only well ahead of the average pace, but also in record territory, even surpassing the infamous 2005 season. The year 2005 brought devastating storms, including Katrina, Rita and Wilma. This year, Cristobal and all the storms from Edouard through Omar set early-season formation records for their respective letters.
Related:
With Omar forming off the U.S. East Coast this week, it has set another early-season formation record. Before Omar, Ophelia held the early formation record for the “O”-named storm on Sept. 7, 2005.
Seven named systems have made landfall in the continental U.S. this year -- a new record for the end of August. Laura's landfall on Aug. 27, broke previous records set in 1886 and 1916 when six storms struck the continental U.S. through the end of August, according to Colorado State University Meteorologist Phil Klotzbach. In addition to Laura, Marco, Isaias, Hanna, Fay, Cristobal and Bertha all made landfall this year.
Additional landfalls are likely in the U.S. prior to the end of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. AccuWeather meteorologists, led by hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski, predicted up to 10 landfalls in the U.S. this season in what is expected to be an extremely active peak hurricane season.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo