Several Tropical Disturbances Being Monitored

We are in the heart of Hurricane Season in the U.S., and several tropical disturbances have recently formed over the Atlantic and Pacific. Here are the latest Sunday afternoon advisories and forecast tracks. Stay tuned for updates, and possible impacts travel in the week to come.


Data supplied by the National Hurricane Center

Atlantic:

• Tropical Storm Claudette located is just off the Florida Panhandle is expected to move inland over the next 24-hours. Maximum sustained winds are currently at 50 mph.
• Tropical Depression Ana is located near the Leeward islands, moving WNW at 23 mph. Maximum sustained winds are 35 mph. Long-range models bring Ana into the Gulf of Mexico late in the week.
• Tropical Storm Bill, located far out into the Atlantic, has maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. Bill is showing significant signs of strengthening, and some models bring the storm to a Category 4 hurricane within a few days. Long-range forecasts indicate Bill will be located over the Atlantic, South of Bermuda, by the end of the week.

Pacific:

• Hurricane Guillermo is currently 1000 miles East of Hilo, Hawaii. Maximum sustained winds of 85mph. The storm is expected to gradually weaken and push to the Northwest, and not directly impact the Hawai'ian islands.

Rough Landings at Seattle Airport

Here's a video from couple years ago out of Seattle, where two separate Northwest Airlines planes were encountered some particularly nasty winds during landing. What a ride!

United Passengers Injured On Flight to SFO

United Airlines reported today that a seven passengers aboard UA flight 886 were injured with the plane encountered severe turbulence Tuesday morning over the Pacific, while en route to San Francisco. The flight originated from Osaka, Japan. The airline reports none of the injured are considered serious.

Video of Lufthansa Plane Narrowly Avoids Disaster

Kudos to the cockpit crew for working against strong head winds, and landing everyone safely.Video is of an Airbus-320 trying to land in Hamburg Germany last Saturday. The actual touchdown shows one of the winds nearly making contact with the runway.

Storm Watch - Coast to Coast

East Coast: A major winter storm has hit the Northeast, causing more than 1100 flight cancellations through Friday evening. As much as 10 inches of snow has blanketed New York City. The snow is expected to taper off Sunday. More from NewsDay

West Coast: A potent storm will begin affecting the San Francisco Bay Region on Saturday. The National Weather Service has issued alerts for rain and strong, potentially damaging winds throughout the region.

Plan on airport delays & some cancellations throughout the region.

Tune in for more information.

Storm Highlights from Greater Bay Area Airports: (Updated 12:20 pm) San Francisco Airport - Microburst Alert temporarily issued at 11:30am, followed by wind-shear alerts (cancelled at of 12:20p)
SFO reported peak wind of 67mph at 8:47am
Sacramento Airport 52mph at 8:52am
San Jose Airport 58 mph at 6:53am
Golden Gate Bridge 70mph at 9:19am
Angel Island 78mph at 9:00am
Kregor Peak 107mph (elevation 1900 feet) at 9:41am

Nearly 500,000 people in Bay Area without power.
San Rafael Bridge closed, BART service temporarily stopped from 24th Street Station Outbound.

-San Francisco International has cancelled 30% of flights (67 total) so far today. Most are departing, just quite delayed.
-Oakland, San Jose & Sacramento Airports report 6-25% of flights cancelled thus far.

Weather conditions expected to gradually improve later today.

The National Weather Service is expected to issue a special Airport Weather Warning for San Francisco International this afternoon. An AWW addresses weather phenomena that may adversely impact ground operations at airports, and is usually issued just prior to the onset of severe weather. Weather conditions, specifically erratic winds, will likely disrupt regular airport operations. In the upper left column of this page is a map of real-time airport delays and problems.

Related: Virgin America announced today a fee waiver policy for flights to/from San Francisco and other VX cities due to winter weather conditions. Passengers holding confirmed reservations between January 3-7th may qualify for waiver of change fees and/or fare differences for switching flights. Details here.