Cyclone Catarina (2004)

Today the seventh tropical system ever recorded has formed in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It currently has the unintuitive name 90Q.Invest. It is currently off the coast of Brazil heading in an easterly direction so there is no threat to land. The storm - which may never have a real name - topped out at 40 MPH which would have lead to it receiving the status of Subtropical Storm in the North Atlantic. However, due to the rarity of tropical systems in this basin there is no naming system in place for storms. The only reason the Cyclone above got the name Catarina is due to the storm making landfall near Santa Catarina.

Brazilian Meteorologist are calling the storm a full fledged Tropical Cyclone while the National Hurricane Center and United States Naval Research Laboratory continue to refer to it as either a Subtropical Storm or Subtropical Depression.

Tropical storms are typically named in a manner such as this: ##B.NNNN. The ## would be the storm number, B would be the basin identifier, and NNNN would be the storms name.

The Number

The storm number is typically a number incremented for each storm that reaches depression strength. When a storm has yet to reach that strength then it is given a rotating number set between 90 and 99.

The Basin Identifier

To identify which basic the storm is in the system includes a single letter to mark this.

• L - North Atlantic Ocean
• W - Western North Pacific
• C - Central North Pacific
• E - Eastern North Pacific
• A - Arabian Sea
• B - Bay of Bengal
• S - South Indian Ocean
• P - South Pacific Ocean

The Name

The name is taken from a list of predefined names typically set up on a rotating basis. If the storm is in the preliminary stages of developing the name will be written as "INVEST", if the storm has reached tropical depression strength it will be listed as "NONAME" as a storm does not receive a name until it has reached tropical storm strength. As an example, the following is an example of the progression of Hurricane Katrina in the naming system: during the early formation of the storm it was known as 99L.INVEST, when it reached tropical depression strength it was given the name 12L.NONAME, and finally when it hit tropical storm status and given a name it was listed as 12L.KATRINA.

Since storms in this location are so rare they've never had a system set up to handle storms. Cyclone Catarina was given the designation 50L.NONAME as it would be very unlikely that basin would have 50 storms and this allowed them to place the storms information into their database. Since the number of storms in the south Atlantic seem to be on the rise they've given the basin the letter Q. So today for the first time we have a 90Q.INVEST.

Statement as of 5:38 am CST on February 12, 2010

... Greatest all-time calendar day snow on record set at Dallas Fort
Worth...

... Record daily maximum snowfall for February 11th set at Dallas
Fort Worth...

... Greatest all-time 24-hour snowfall total set at Dallas Fort
Worth...

... Record 24-hour snow for February set at Dallas Fort Worth...

Dallas Fort Worth Airport recorded 11.2 inches of snow for February
11... 2010. This breaks the greatest calendar day snow on record.
The old record was 7.8 inches set on January 15... 1964 and January
14... 1917.

Obviously... .this shatters the record daily maximum snowfall for
February 11th... of 1.4 inches which was previously set in 1988.

The greatest all-time 24 hour snowfall record was also broken from 4
am Thursday to 4 am Friday. The new record is 12.5 inches. The old
record was 12.1 inches set January 15 through January 16... 1964.

This also breaks the record 24-hour snowfall for February which was
7.5 inches... set on February 17... 1978 and February 25... 1924.

They also released this notice:

Statement as of 4:10 am CST on February 12, 2010

... Snow event one for the record books...

At midnight on February 11th... dfw Airport had recorded 11.2 inches
of snow. This breaks the previous daily record for February 11th of
1.4 inches set in 1988. This also breaks the previous 24-hour record
for February... 7.5 inches on February 17, 1978 and February 25, 1924.

At 4 am on February 12th... dfw Airport had reported a 24-hour
snowfall total of 12.5 inches. This breaks the previous all time
24-hour snowfall total record of 12.1 inches set January 15-16, 1964.

The snowfall total on February 11th is the greatest calendar-day
snowfall total on record for Dallas/Fort Worth. The previous record
was 7.8 inches on January 15, 1964 and January 14, 1917.

This brings the seasonal snowfall total to 15.7 inches... which is
the 2nd highest seasonal total on record for Dallas/Fort Worth. This
is the snowiest winter in 32 seasons (since 1977-1978).

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Dallas/Fort Worth - snowiest seasons

1 17.6 1977-78
2 15.7 2009-10*
3 15.3 1963-64
4 13.5 1923-24
5 10.4 1976-77
6 9.5 1909-10
7 9.2 1916-17
8 8.8 1947-48
9 8.1 1937-38
10 7.3 1965-66
7.3 1941-42

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Dallas/Fort Worth - most snow in February

1 13.5 1978
2 12.5 2010*
3 7.5 1924

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Dallas/Fort Worth - greatest 24-hour snowfall totals

1 12.5 February 11-12, 2010*
2 12.1 January 15-16, 1964
3 8.2 January 14-15, 1917
4 7.5 February 17, 1978
7.5 February 25, 1924
6 6.0 March 13, 1924
7 5.5 December 9, 1898
8 5.0 November 22, 1937
5.0 January 5, 1910
10 4.7 November 13, 1976

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And yes, it is very unusual to see this much snow. However, this does not disprove climate change no matter how much your little republican conservative heart wants it to.