The Tropics are Hot

By Charlie Wilson, Guest Contributor

The tropical Atlantic has heated up with two named storms and one that has the potential for development over the next several days.

Close to home, at 5 p.m. EDT, Tropical Storm Cristobal was located 265 miles northeast of Cape Hatteras, NC or about 660 miles southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada moving northeast near 13 mph. Maximum sustained winds were near 65 mph with higher gusts. As the storm moves well off the Mid-Atlantic coast, the main impact will be high surf and the threat of rip currents at the beaches into Thursday. Conditions are expected to improve in time for the upcoming weekend.

Keep reading for more on the tropics. See CommuteCast for the latest local weather outlook.

Down in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, say hello to Tropical Storm Dolly. At 5 p.m. EDT, Dolly was located 420 miles east-southeast of the southeast Texas/Mexican border moving west-northwest at 18 mph. Maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph with higher gusts. Dolly is forecasted to continue tracking west-northwest across the southwest Gulf of Mexico with a gradual decrease in forward speed, intensifying to a hurricane Tuesday or Wednesday. Dolly is expected to make landfall as a hurricane on Wednesday along the southeast Texas coast to extreme northeastern Mexico. Hence, hurricane watches are in effect from Port O'Conner, TX southward to Rio San Fernando, Mexico. These may be upgraded to warnings later tonight.

The remnants of what was "Bertha" are now impacting Iceland as a strong north Atlantic gale with sustained winds in excess of 50 mph.

Elsewhere, a strong tropical wave is about to emerge off the African coast. The National Hurricane Center is monitoring this system for possible development over the next couple of days as it moves westward.

At the complete opposite extreme, looking back in weather history on this date in 1983, the lowest temperature on Earth was measured as the Russian Vostok Station in Antarctica dropped to -128.6 degrees.

By Capital Weather Gang |  July 21, 2008; 6:00 PM ET Tropical Weather
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