(Press-News.org) During the week of Aug. 18, the low pressure area designated as System 95E was lingering in the western Caribbean Sea and moved into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, where it exploded into Tropical Storm Fernand late on Aug. 25. On Aug. 26, NASA's TRMM satellite saw towering thunderstorms in Fernand were still raging over mainland Mexico, dropping heavy rainfall.
On Sunday, Aug. 25 at 5:00 p.m. EDT, System 95E organized quickly into a tropical depression six, and by 7:00 p.m. EDT, the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Fernand. Fernand was centered in the Bay of Campeche and by 12:25 a.m. EDT on Aug. 26, Tropical Storm Fernand made landfall about 25 miles/40 km north-northwest of Veracruz, Mexico.
At landfall, Fernand's maximum sustained winds were near 50 mph/85 kph. It came ashore near 19.5 north and 96.3 west. Fernand is now moving toward the north-northwest over mainland Mexico dumping heavy rainfall to eastern portions of the country.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for Veracruz northward to Barra de Nautla.
NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite called TRMM can measure rainfall rates from space. When TRMM passed over Fernand on Monday, Aug. 26 at 05:34 UTC/1:34 a.m. EDT, data showed that "hot towers" or towering thunderstorms that stretch to the top of the troposphere were flaring around the storm's center. TRMM data showed rainfall rates exceeding 2 inches/50 mm per hour.
A "hot tower" is a tall cumulonimbus cloud that reaches at least to the top of the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere. It extends approximately nine miles (14.5 km) high in the tropics. The hot towers in Fernand were as high as 11.1 miles (18 km) high! These towers are called "hot" because they rise to such altitude due to the large amount of latent heat. Water vapor releases this latent heat as it condenses into liquid. NASA research shows that a tropical cyclone with a hot tower in its eye wall was twice as likely to intensify within six or more hours, than a cyclone that lacked a hot tower.
Those hot towers also drop heavy rainfall, and the National Hurricane Center expects Fernand to produce 4 to 8 inches of rain over Veracruz, Hidalgo, northern Puebla, southern Tamaulipas and eastern San Luis Potosi, Mexico today, Aug. 26. Isolated maximum amounts of up to 12 inches are possible, and Fernand's rainfall could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.
At 8 a.m. EDT, the center of Tropical Storm Fernand was lLocated near latitude 20.1 north and longitude 97.2 west. That puts Fernand's center about 95 miles/150 km northwest of Veracruz, Mexico and just 65 miles/100 km south-southeast of Tuxpan, Mexico. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted that Fernand is moving toward the northwest near 9 mph/15 kph and this general motion is expected to continue for the next day or so with a slight decrease in forward speed. Fernand is expected to remain over Mexico tonight, Aug. 26 into Aug. 27.
Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 40 mph/65 kph, but weakening will continue while the system moves over land. The NHC expects Fernand to become a depression later today.
INFORMATION:
NASA sees quick forming Tropical Storm Fernand soaking Mexico
2013-08-26
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
When is it safe for an athlete to return to play after a concussion? Consensus reports summarized
2013-08-26
New Rochelle, NY, August 26, 2013—Concussions are a common sports injury that can have long-term neurological consequences if not properly diagnosed and treated. Several new or updated guidelines for managing sports concussions were released earlier this year, and their key areas of consensus, including recommendations for return to play, are presented in an article in Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Neurotrauma website at http://www.liebertpub.com/neu.
Therese A. ...
Women at increasing risk of kidney stones, related ER visits
2013-08-26
VIDEO:
Khurshid R. Ghani, M.D., of Henry Ford's Vattikuti Urology Institute and lead author of the study, explains why the charges for emergency department visits for kidney stones rose to$5 billion...
Click here for more information.
DETROIT -- The risk of women developing kidney stones is rising, as is the number of cases being seen in U.S. emergency departments, while the rate of hospitalization for the disorder has remained stable.
Those are among the findings of a ...
Worldwide ban on flame retardants
2013-08-26
It is a lengthy process before a contaminant is identified as such and its harmful effects are highlighted with a worldwide ban. This is acknowledged by Norbert Heeb, chemist in Empa's Analytical Chemistry Lab. He was involved in uncovering the exact structures of HBCD (hexabromocyclododecane). On closer inspection, the substance turned out to be a whole group of compounds. Together with researchers from ETH Zurich, Eawag and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), he published several studies that show how HBCD is structured, which forms tend to accumulate in ...
Video games do not make vulnerable teens more violent
2013-08-26
Do violent video games such as 'Mortal Kombat,' 'Halo' and 'Grand Theft Auto' trigger teenagers with symptoms of depression or attention deficit disorder to become aggressive bullies or delinquents? No, according to Christopher Ferguson of Stetson University and independent researcher Cheryl Olson from the US in a study published in Springer's Journal of Youth and Adolescence. On the contrary, the researchers found that the playing of such games actually had a very slight calming effect on youths with attention deficit symptoms and helped to reduce their aggressive and ...
NASA catches Tropical Storm Kong-Rey form in northwestern Pacific
2013-08-26
The northwestern Pacific has generated its fourteenth tropical cyclone and NASA's Aqua satellite flew over the eastern side of the storm early on Aug. 26.
Tropical Storm Kong-Rey formed from low pressure System 91W. It is located east of the northeast Philippines and bringing the region gusty winds, rains and rough seas today, Aug 26.
Aqua passed over Tropical Storm Kong-Rey on Aug. 26 at 0432 UTC/12:32 a.m. EDT as it was strengthening from a tropical depression into a tropical storm. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard Aqua ...
Skin cell defect is surprising allergy trigger
2013-08-26
CHICAGO --- In a new study published in Nature Genetics, Northwestern Medicine and Tel Aviv University scientists have found that a structural defect in skin cells can contribute to allergy development, including skin and food allergies, traditionally thought primarily to be a dysfunction of the immune system.
The finding is related to the team's identification of a new rare genetic disease, called "severe dermatitis, multiple allergies, and metabolic wasting," or SAM, caused by mutations in the molecule desmoglein 1.
"Desmoglein 1 is best understood as the 'glue' ...
Study shows how some inspectors are able to uphold factory labor rules
2013-08-26
CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- The recent factory collapse in Bangladesh has renewed attention to the global issue of workplace standards. In many countries, similar problems have arisen from a lack of enforcement for existing laws pertaining to safety, wages and overtime, or an absence of labor contracts for workers.
These problems occur for a variety of reasons, including a lack of funding for regulators; difficulties acquiring solid information about potential problems in the first place; and corruption in the enforcement process.
"We have a huge problem with enforcement," says ...
Development of a therapeutic algorithm for optimal nosebleed management
2013-08-26
Approximately 60 percent of people experience epistaxis, commonly known as nosebleed, at least once in their lifetime. Of those who experience nosebleed, six percent require medical treatment. A study in the September 2013 issue of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, explores which nosebleed treatment options demonstrate the best outcomes.
"Although data exist on the efficacy of the different epistaxis management techniques, outcome comparisons between the modalities for both primary management as well as management of cases of recurrence are currently lacking," the ...
Study offers insight into the origin of the genetic code, team reports
2013-08-26
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- An analysis of enzymes that load amino acids onto transfer RNAs -- an operation at the heart of protein translation -- offers new insights into the evolutionary origins of the modern genetic code, researchers report.
Their findings appear in the journal PLOS ONE.
The researchers focused on aminoacyl tRNA synthetases, enzymes that "read" the genetic information embedded in transfer RNA molecules and attach the appropriate amino acids to those tRNAs. Once a tRNA is charged with its amino acid, it carries it to the ribosome, a cellular "workbench" on ...
UCI, UCLA study reveals new approach to remedying childhood visual disorders
2013-08-26
Irvine, Calif., Aug. 26, 2013 — By discovering the role of key neurons that mediate an important part of vision development, UC Irvine and UCLA neurobiologists have revealed a new approach to correcting visual disorders in children who suffer from early cataracts or amblyopia, also known as lazy eye.
Such youngsters can have permanent defects in vision, even after surgery to remove cataracts or correct lazy eye. These flaws are often a result of improper brain development due to visual deprivation during childhood. In contrast, when cataracts in adults are surgically ...