Tropical Storm Gustav forms

The Hurricane Hunters have found data supporting the upgrade of Tropical Depression Seven to Tropical Storm Gustav. At 1:33 pm EDT, an Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft measured a surface pressure of 996 mb at 15.8N, 70.5W, at the center of a closed circulation. Top winds at the aircraft's flight level of 2200 feet were hurricane force, 74 mph. Top winds measured at the surface by the SFMR instrument were 60 mph, on the southeast side of the storm. Large regions of winds in excess of tropical storm force (39 mph) were measured on both the northwest and southeast sides of the storm.


Figure 1. Latest satellite image of what will soon be called Tropical Storm Gustav.

Links to follow
Wundermap for Hispaniola
Dominican Republic radar (Punta Cana)

I'll have a full blog by 4pm EDT.

Jeff Masters