[Res] Tropical Storm Alenga and 2

Hi from San Francisco. Just wanted to take several minutes off to write up a new blog.  As we go deeper into December and winter starts setting in the northern hemisphere, it almost seems that interesting features in the tropics have calmed down. This is true for area that are close to the US (and PR),  but for some equatorial areas and the southern hemisphere there is still lots to talk about. 

Global mosaic of IR imagery from University of Washington

We have two tropical cyclones in the southern Indian Ocean: Alenga and TS2.  While I have not been closely following the development of these storm,  it appears that they developed from meandering gyres from the MJO. These provide a good amount of vorticity and a moist environment that favors development.  Neither seem to be a threat for land at this moment. 

At the center we have the two tropical cyclones (2 to the right and Alenga to the right)  The intense cloud activity to the far right is due to the active MJO

The active MJO phase is currently near the Maritime continent/ western Pacific. We can clearly see it in the enchanced satellite image below. The latest NCEP discussion forecast it to remain active, with a possibility of some weakening. This event has been fairly strong in comparison to other events this year. 

Well this is pretty much all I am able to write about right now, I will make another post in the future with more details of tropical weather conditions.

Angel