Ana and TD 3 take aim at the Lesser Antilles Tropical Storm Ana
was born this morning, when the remnants of Tropical Depression
Two made a comeback and organized into the first tropical storm
of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season. Ana is the latest first
named storm of the season since Hurricane Andrew got its name on
August 17, 1992. The two storms have some similarities, as
Andrew formed in the same part of the ocean, and also struggled
in its early days with high wind shear and dry air. Let's hope
the similarities end there. Ana is struggling this afternoon.
After an modest burst of heavy thunderstorm activity prompted
NHC to upgrade Ana to a tropical storm early this morning, Ana
has run into strong upper-level winds from the west that are
creating high wind shear. This shear was not forecast, and it is
not clear how long it will last. The shear has acted to drive
dry air into the core of Ana, destroying almost all of Ana's
heavy thunderstorms. The low-level center of the storm is now
exposed to view, som