Tropical Storm Nana: Nonsense?

Written by: Bob Metcalfe

In a time where politics is on the forefront of all water cooler talk, family dinners, and pretty much every other social setting you can think of, now meteorologists have a similar "hotly-debated" topic of their own.

As of this afternoon, the National Hurricane Center named the 14th Tropical Storm of the season, Nana.

Now without getting too specific, there is a list of criteria that storms must achieve before being named. Among them there is pressure requirements, wind speed requirements, and a few other things.

A few very outspoken meteorologists are enraged at the naming of Nana. Why would it be such a big deal? One critical meteorologist argues that the naming of this system is helping to "pad" the number of named storms predicted for the year, making forecast numbers verify. In other words, some argue this is "political" in nature.

Now I am not a "tropical" meteorologist, but I do have to say that they may have been quite hasty considering the lack of data for this storm. Most named storms at least get one re-con flight to gather data, Nana had none. The winds were barely at tropical storm strength, and their own forecast even sounded like they were un-impressed with its lifespan. Here's the discussion from the NHC:

ALTHOUGH THE CONVECTIVE ORGANIZATION OF THE AREA OF LOW PRESSURE
LOCATED OVER THE EASTERN ATLANTIC HAS DEGRADED SOME THIS
AFTERNOON...THE SYSTEM HAS MAINTAINED SUFFICIENT CONVECTION FOR A
LONG ENOUGH PERIOD TO CONSIDER IT A TROPICAL CYCLONE.  DURING THE
AFTERNOON...THE CENTER OF THE CYCLONE HAS BECOME EXPOSED WELL TO
THE WEST OF THE LARGE AREA OF DEEP CONVECTION DUE TO WESTERLY
SHEAR.  AN ASCAT OVERPASS FROM 12Z INDICATED MAXIMUM WINDS OF 30-35
KT.  GIVEN THE TYPICAL LOW BIAS OF THIS INSTRUMENT...THE CYCLONE IS
DECLARED A TROPICAL STORM...THE FOURTEENTH OF THE 2008 SEASON.  THE
LONG-TERM SURVIVAL OF NANA SEEMS BLEAK AS STRONG UPPER-LEVEL
WESTERLIES ARE FORECAST TO CONTINUE.  ALL THE INTENSITY GUIDANCE
SHOWS WEAKENING AND SO DOES THE OFFICIAL FORECAST.  THE OFFICIAL
FORECAST SHOWS NANA DEGENERATING INTO A REMNANT LOW IN ABOUT 48
HOURS...BUT IT WOULD NOT BE SURPRISING IF IT OCCURRED SOONER.

So it may be safe to say that politics infect everything, even weather!