National Weather Service--All Lathered UP

Being the weather nerd that I am, I subscribe to the National Weather Service Hurricane Center E-mail list. You can get twenty e-mails in just a couple of hours, but it gives you some interesting insights into the goings-on behind the scenes in the professional weather forcasting business.

I just got this text in an E-mail from the National Weather Service:

"AFTER DEEPENING AT A RATE THAT BORDERED ON INSANE DURING THE AFTERNOON...DENNIS HAS CONTINUED TO STRENGTHEN AT A MORE NORMAL RATE THIS EVENING. REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT SHOW THAT THE CENTRAL PRESSURE HAS FALLEN TO 941MB...WITH MAXIMUM FLIGHT-LEVEL WINDS OF 122 KT IN THE NORTHEAST QUADRANT.

BASED ON THIS...THE INITIAL INTENSITY IS 110 KT. IT IS EXPECTED THAT WHEN THE AIRCRAFT AGAIN SAMPLES THE NORTHEAST EYE WALL THAT IT WILL FIND STRONGER WINDS THAT WILL JUSTIFY UPGRADING DENNIS TO A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT ALTHOUGH DENNIS HAS A VERY LARGE OUTER WIND FIELD... THE HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ARE CONFINED TO A VERY SMALL AREA NEAR THE CENTER."

I think that somebody needs some decaf coffee down there in Miami...