The proximity of Tropical Cyclone Iris prompted the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to issued Warnings and Watches for the east coast of Queensland on Monday.\u00a0 A Warning was issued for the portion of the coast from Ayr to Sarina including Mackay and the Whitsunday Islands.\u00a0 A Watch was issued for the portion of the coast from Sarina to St. Lawrence.\u00a0 At 11:00 p.m. EDT on Monday the center of Tropical Cyclone Iris was located at latitude 17.1\u00b0S and longitude 149.0\u00b0E which put it about 210 miles (335 km) northeast of Townsville, Australia.\u00a0 Iris was moving toward the southeast at 3 m.p.h. (4 km\/h).\u00a0 The maximum sustained wind speed was 60 m.p.h. (95 km\/h) and there were wind gusts to 75 m.p.h. (120 km\/h).\u00a0 The minimum surface pressure was 994 mb.<\/p>\n
The circulation of Tropical Cyclone Iris was asymmetrical.\u00a0 Most of the showers and thunderstorms were located south and east of the center of circulation.\u00a0 The bands north and west of the center consisted primarily of low clouds and showers.\u00a0 Tropical Cyclone Iris was near the western end of an upper level ridge.\u00a0 The ridge was producing northwesterly winds which were blowing toward the top of the circulation.\u00a0 Those winds were producing moderate vertical wind shear and they were probably responsible for the asymmetrical distribution of thunderstorms.<\/p>\n
Tropical Cyclone Iris will be moving through an environment marginally favorable for intensification during the next 48 hours.\u00a0 Iris will move over water where the Sea Surface Temperature is near 29\u00b0C.\u00a0 However, the upper level ridge will continue to produce moderate vertical wind shear.\u00a0 The shear will be strong enough to inhibit intensification.\u00a0 If the strength of the upper level winds slows, then Tropical Cyclone Iris could strengthen, but if the upper level winds get faster, then Iris will weaken.\u00a0 The forecast is for slow intensification, but there is high uncertainty about the intensity forecast.<\/p>\n
The subtropical ridge east of Iris is steering Tropical Cyclone Iris slowly toward the southeast.\u00a0 A general motion toward the southeast is expected to continue for several more days.\u00a0 On its anticipated track the center of Tropical Cyclone Iris is expected to stay east of the coast of Queensland.\u00a0 However, Tropical Cyclone Iris could come close enough to the coast to bring gusty winds and locally heavy rain to locations under Warnings and Watches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The proximity of Tropical Cyclone Iris prompted the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to issued Warnings and Watches for the east coast of Queensland on Monday.\u00a0 A Warning was issued for the portion of the coast from Ayr to Sarina including Mackay and the Whitsunday Islands.\u00a0 A Watch was issued for the portion of the coast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,76,2],"tags":[990,78,991,79,82,992,989],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5754"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5755,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5754\/revisions\/5755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}