TS Bonnie

It's too bad we had to waste the name Bonnie on this system, but the NHC nevertheless upgraded TD#3 to Tropical Storm (TS) Bonnie. I suppose if we are going to meet the forecast for numbers of named storms we have to get the numbers up.

Anyway, we have TS Bonnid which, as I write this, is moving through S. Florida with the heavies rains right over Miami - home for me. From the satellite picture it doesn't look like much, and as you can see from the current NHC track, it's a fast moving storm which should pass into the Gulf this afternoon and make landfall in Louisiana/Mississippi early Sunday morning. That's a good thing as it will give everyone here in Florida part of the weekend to relax. To see a larger version of these images, just click on them. Remember to hit your back button to return to the blog.

As to our flight schedule for Bonnie, we did have a G-IV flight planned for this afternoon at 1:30 pm and several P-3 flights over the next couple of days. The Hurricane Center, which tasks the Gulfstream G-IV missions, has decided not to waste another flight on Bonnie and has cancelled today's mission. I'm still waiting to here from the other folks about the P-3 flights. The first one is scheduled to depart this afternoon at 4:00 pm and the second at 4:00 am tomorrow morning (same aircraft - different crew). The plan is to repeat these on Saturday/Sunday, but with the storm being ashore early Sunday morning, I think we are limited to only three total missions. Frankly, I see no need for any of these flights considering the condition of the storm and its rapid movement, but that's not my call. I will certainly question the need, but I will provide the support if needed.

More later.