Tropical Storm Francine is not yet a fully realized tropical cyclone. However, that changes later today as Francine gains hurricane intensity. Francine feels the westerly shear north of the storm which turns the hurricane toward Louisiana tonight and Wednesday with landfall projected around 4PM across Vermillion Bay. France should reach category 2 intensity prior to landfall.

In August, the sunspot number (215) was the highest observed since September 2001 (23 years). The solar maxima of solar cycle 25 has arrived! The solar maxima for cycle 25 is just beginning and could continue to intensify as solar maxima can last up to 2 years.

To help inspire vertical motion, plentiful moisture at the mid-troposphere level is helpful to create an environment supportive of tropical cyclone development. However, during early September, relative humidity at 600 MB across the deep tropics in the North Atlantic basin is arid. Plentiful moisture at 600 MB is too far to the north to help inspire TC activity.

As the polar region turns sharply colder due to loss of sunlight mid-to-late autumn, cold air is swept across an increase in open ocean water (due to a constricting polar ice cap) that leads to advection snows bringing above normal snowfall to the northern continents most notably Northern Russia.