Rare Fujiwhara Effect Alters Hurricane Helene’s Path Towards The Four States Region.

We have had a lot of rain this past weekend, and we may have a bit more coming up.

Dense Fog:

• We start off our Wednesday morning with some dense fog in certain areas especially in the Kansas and Oklahoma counties.
• Less than half a mile visibility until 9-10 am.

Wednesday High Temps:

• Temperatures are slightly warmer today in the upper 70s.
• Overall, this is about average for this time of year, but we do have a warm up through this weekend.

Upper Level Flow:

• The warm up is caused by an upper level ridge, building high pressure and warmer air in our Four States Region.
• Mostly just warming up to the lower 80s.

Hurricane Helene:

• We may see a touch of rain from Hurricane Helene, which will make landfall in the Florida Panhandle as a Category 3.
• Rain chances in our area start early Friday afternoon.

The Fujiwhara Effect:

• This is a rare occurrence to see a Hurricane from the East make it all the way to the Midwest.
• Normally, a strong hurricane, like Hurricane Helene, will take a northeasterly path.
• Though that is not what is going to happen, thanks to something we call The Fujiwhara Effect.
• The Fujiwhara Effect is the phenomenon where a low pressure system already pushing southeast meets the Hurricane that is moving north.
• The two low pressure systems gravitate towards each other until one finally overtakes the other, which is why Helene moves West even far enough to bring us a few showers Friday afternoon.
• As Helene reaches our area giving us some showers Friday afternoon, the low overtakes Helene, and moves East again.

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