Global Discussion : Invest 90e LatestAdded : Friday at 13:10 For most people, the idea of a tropical depression or tropical storm forming in the East Pacific at the end of April is about as interesting as finding all the sachets in your cup-a-soup packet upside down (it happened to us today!).
But, for meteorologists, we know that this is something a little more special. You see, tropical formation at this time of the year is incredibly early. Of course, the ingredients are there, warm seas, thunderstorms and the system near the sweet spot of 10 degrees North, but even so...
This is the system in question. At the moment, it's called a rather catchy Invest 90e. There is a reason for this. When systems become of interest with a risk of development, they are called INVEST which is short for Investigative Area. You will then see a two digit number. These start at 90 with any subsequent systems being 91, 92 etc all the way up to 99 before going back to 90 again.
The reason for 90 is that is due to the ATCF or Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecast System. The numbers 01 to 49 are reserved for actual developed storms for that season, 50 to 79 is reserved for internal use and 80 to 89 are for system tests, which leaves 90-99 for INVESTigative areas.
The last letter tells us the oceanic region, here is the list :-
L - North Atlantic
E - NE Pacific
C - North Central Pacific
W - Northwest Pacific
B - Bay of Bengal
A - Arabian Sea
S - S Indian Ocean
P - South Pacific
Q - South Atlantic
So, now you know that if you see a system called Invest 92P then it will be the second area of the season which meteorologists are investigating for potential tropical development in the South Pacific.
Which is probably easier to figure out than why those minestrone cup-a-soups were upside-down?
METEOROLOGIST : MARSH |