Hurricane Hunters Finding Consistent 80+ Knot Flight Level Winds in Francine

You see what an invaluable service the men and women of the Hurricane Hunters do for us with these tropical cyclones. They are flying tireless hours giving us fixes on the storm.

This is Air Force 305 which is flying through the northeastern quadrant and finding 80+ knot flight level winds over a large area. They obsered an extrapolated surface pressure of 972.6 mb at 11:58z or 6:58 a.m. CDT.

We are seeing a lot of lightning here on the GOES Lightning Mapper.

Here is their latest Vortex Data Message:

923
URNT12 KNHC 111303
VORTEX DATA MESSAGE AL062024
A. 11/12:01:40Z
B. 27.47 deg N 093.18 deg W
C. 700 mb 2912 m
D. 977 mb
E. NA
F. NA
G. NA
H. 65 kt (MAXIMUM ESTIMATED SURFACE WIND INBOUND)
I. 236 deg 33 nm 11:46:30Z
J. 303 deg 73 kt (MAXIMUM FLIGHT LEVEL WIND INBOUND)
K. 234 deg 40 nm 11:44:30Z
L. 61 kt (MAXIMUM ESTIMATED SURFACE WIND OUTBOUND)
M. 082 deg 22 nm 12:08:00Z
N. 200 deg 86 kt (MAXIMUM FLIGHT LEVEL WIND OUTBOUND)
O. 089 deg 62 nm 12:19:30Z
P. 15 C / 3046 m (TEMP OUTSIDE EYE AT 3046m)
Q. 16 C / 3049 m (TEMP INSIDE EYE – NOTICE IT IS WARMER)
R. 14 C / NA (DEWPOINT IN EYE)
S. 134 / 7
T. 0.02 / 0.5 nm
U. AF305 1206A FRANCINE OB 17
MAX FL WIND 86 KT 089 / 62 NM 12:19:30Z
MAX FL TEMP 19 C 165 / 6 NM FROM FL CNTR
CENTER SONDE LAST WIND 225 deg 7 kts at 13 m

This is NOAA2, which is nicknamed “Kermit”:

The NOAA folks found 82 knot flight level winds and their vortex data message came back with a minimum pressure of 976 mb at 11:43z (6:43 a.m.).

Category: ALL POSTS, Tropical