Cyclone Center Talk

Identify the storm center

  • Struck by Struck moderator, translator

    I wish everybody a very relaxed day,

    in an other topic, the user 'sylverone' has detected and classified this storm pic.
    In the board topic of the image, the question was given, where we could find the center of this storm image.

    I think, this could be very difficult, so I have tried to create a possible sketch to solve this problem.

    Maybe you have possible clues or an advice to solve the problem, too.

    Posted

  • cch001 by cch001 scientist

    I like how you have followed the very faint gray lines in the upper right part of the image. This is a very difficult case without other images like visible or microwave. Unfortunately the storm occurred so long ago (1979) that we don't have any additional data available. If I were classifying this image, I would probably choose somewhere in the middle blue blob as the center, which matches up pretty well to your spiral lines.

    Posted

  • Struck by Struck moderator, translator

    Thank you for your comment cch001. If I will get the question about the center of this image, I would set the center-point in the middle dark blue area, too.
    By focusing on this image, I ask myself, if it is possible to have three storm-centers near to the land-mass like in this case.

    What would you say?

    Posted

  • cch001 by cch001 scientist

    Sometimes with weaker storms there may be a dominant center and then one or more weaker "centers" (which are really local areas of spin, maybe rotating around the dominant center). Forecasters always try to find the dominant center. In this image, it is not possible to determine where the dominant center is, so trying to identify the spirals like you did is the best way to handle it.

    Posted

  • Struck by Struck moderator, translator

    Special thank you for your reply of my question cch001 = ).
    Really cool to have such an example like this with two weaker centers.

    I am really surprised, how storms could be very varied and extensive.

    Posted

  • cch001 by cch001 scientist

    Just one other thing, having a blue blob does not mean there is a circulation center underneath it. Sometimes blobs form away from the center. For this particular image, it is not possible to know how many centers there are. You just have to try to find the spirals and see where they lead.

    Posted