For January the Tropics are Active

No joke!

In the Central Pacific Ocean, a couple of thousand miles to the WSW of Hawaii a tropical storm has formed and it is named Pali. Below is the advisory, forecast strength and forecast path for the storm, as well as, an infrared satellite picture.

Pali is the earliest named storm in the Central Pacific. However it is not the first January tropical cyclone. In 1988 Tropical Storm Winona formed to the ESE of Hawaii, passing south of Kaui and then continued WSW across the International Dateline.

Even in the Atlantic an extratropical storm system currently approaching Bermuda is forecast to turn east then east-southeast across the subtropical central and eastern Atlantic Ocean and COULD acquire subtropical characteristics by the middle of next week. The NHC in Miami isssued a special Tropical Weather Outlook (TWO) on this system yesterday, 7 January 2016.

Another special (TWO) will be issued this afternoon (8 January).

A quick look back

From the NWS Albany, NY here is the annual climate summary for the 5 climate sites within their county warning area (CWA).

In general, the year averaged slightly drier than normal at Glens Falls and much drier than normal from Albany east and south. The 16.71" deficit at Poughkeepsie is significant.

Interesting too were the temperatures from last winter's (D-J-F) much colder than normal temperatures (including record cold in February) to this past fall and early winter (December's) way above normal warmth including all-time warm December monthly temperatures at Glens Falls, Albany and Poughkeepsie.