- A long-dead Tropical Storm Ophelia is helping fuel a growing flood risk for millions in the Northeast CNN
- New York City in bull’s-eye for intense flood threat as Ophelia’s remnants batter eastern US coastline Fox Weather
- Nearly 1,000 Miles Of The East Coast On Alert For Flooding From Ophelia’s Remnants, Supermoon FOX Weather
- Coastal flooding at Tuesday evening high tide, sun returns Wednesday, NWS says Newsday
- Ophelia’s leftovers will bring more rain to the Philly region, and ‘supermoon’ tides have prompted flood advisories The Philadelphia Inquirer
Tag Archives: Tropical
NFL Week 3 weather: Tropical Cyclone could affect Bills at Commanders, Ravens at Colts and Patriots at Jets – CBS Sports
- NFL Week 3 weather: Tropical Cyclone could affect Bills at Commanders, Ravens at Colts and Patriots at Jets CBS Sports
- Commanders’ stats of the week: Bills’ Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs are tough foes The Washington Post
- FIVE TAKES: Allen, Bills hoping to remain red-hot against unbeaten Commanders, vaunted pass rush The Livingston County News
- Commanders fans feeling good and looking for a win on Sunday at home against the Buffalo Bills Hogs Haven
- Bills: 3 bold predictions for Week 3 game vs. Commanders ClutchPoints
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tropical storm system expected to hit Florida as Category 1 hurricane – TODAY
- Tropical storm system expected to hit Florida as Category 1 hurricane TODAY
- Talking the Tropics With Mike: Tropical storm Idalia…Franklin to go “major”-W. Atlantic ActionNewsJax.com
- Tropical cyclone forming in Gulf, forecasted to make landfall on First Coast as hurricane Wednesday First Coast News
- Invest 93L upgraded to tropical depression, bringing rain and severe weather to Florida FOX 13 Tampa
- Yucatan disturbance sets its sights on Florida » Yale Climate Connections Yale Climate Connections
- View Full Coverage on Google News
With possible tropical system headed to Florida, state Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax holiday begins Saturday – WPLG Local 10
- With possible tropical system headed to Florida, state Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax holiday begins Saturday WPLG Local 10
- Florida’s second disaster prep sales tax holiday begins Saturday. Here’s the full list of items you can buy tax-free NBC 6 South Florida
- Florida tax ‘holiday’ for disaster preparedness to begin Saturday Wink News
- Storm supply tax-free holiday begins as potential tropical system heads toward Florida FOX 13 Tampa
- Halfway through hurricane season, Floridians have another chance to save on disaster prep supplies WJXT News4JAX
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Pregnant Stassi Schroeder Is “Sobbing” After Tropical Storm Hilary Floods Baby Nursery – E! NEWS
- Pregnant Stassi Schroeder Is “Sobbing” After Tropical Storm Hilary Floods Baby Nursery E! NEWS
- Stassi Schroeder Is ‘Sobbing’ After Tropical Storm Hilary Flooding Damages Baby No. 2’s Nursery Yahoo Entertainment
- Stassi Schroeder repairs damaged nursery caused by Hurricane Hilary Daily Mail
- Pregnant Stassi Schroeder ‘Sobbing’ After Hurricane Hilary Rain Damages Her Nursery For Baby #2: Watch HollywoodLife
- Pregnant Stassi Schroeder Shows Damage to Baby’s Nursery amid Hurricane Hilary: ‘Sobbing Right Now’ Yahoo Entertainment
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tropical Depression Nicole delays NASA, SpaceX launch
Georgia Gov. Kemp holds a press conference as Tropical Storm Ian approaches.
Tropical Depression Nicole put a damper on plans for NASA and SpaceX to launch its 26th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station, forcing it to push the date back to Nov. 21.
SpaceX, which is led by billionaire and new Twitter owner Elon Musk, originally aimed to launch its Dragon cargo spacecraft on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 18, but the arrival of now Tropical Depression Nicole, has the space agencies looking at a date no earlier than Nov. 21.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, April 27, 2022. NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, and Jessica Watkins, and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristofore (AP Photo/John Raoux / AP Newsroom)
Nicole made landfall just south of Vero Beach, Florida with sustained winds of 75 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
NICOLE LEAVES OVER 330K FLORIDA CUSTOMERS WITHOUT POWER
It has been blamed for the deaths of at least two people, according to Fox Weather, who were electrocuted when they encountered a downed power line in Orlando.
The storm brought powerful waves along the east coast of Florida which caused significant erosion and led to several buildings collapsing.
People brave rain and heavy winds to visit the waterfront along the Jensen Beach Causeway, as conditions deteriorate with the approach of Hurricane Nicole. ((AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) / AP Newsroom)
Coastal flooding has also been an issue with TropicalDepression Nicole. In fact, one NOAA tide gauge in Port Canaveral, Florida recorded 3.6 surge above the average high tide on Thursday morning.
SPACEX AIMS TO LAUNCH MASSIVE STARSHIP INTO ORBIT BY EARLY DECEMBER: REPORT
On Thursday evening, the tropical cyclone’s center was 40 miles southeast of Tallahassee, Florida and had sustained winds of 40 mph.
As the storm tracks to the north, NASA and SpaceX can begin preparations for their resupply mission later this month.
The cargo will include a Moon Microscope, which NASA said is a portable handheld microscope that allows astronauts to collect a blood sample and obtain images that can be sent to surgeons on the ground to diagnose illnesses.
The Dragon will also send new science experiments, supplies and equipment for the crew, including a study to grow dwarf tomatoes in space.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
NASA assessing damage to Artemis 1 moon rocket from Tropical Storm Nicole
NASA has begun to assess how well its Artemis 1 moon rocket weathered a powerful storm that hit its Florida spaceport today..
That maelstrom was Nicole, which slammed into Florida’s Space Coast Thursday morning (Nov. 10) as a Category 1 hurricane but weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland. Nicole’s wind and rain lashed the Artemis 1 vehicle, which is sitting atop Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
The Artemis 1 stack — a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket topped by an Orion crew capsule — appears to have made it through the ordeal mostly unscathed, according to NASA officials.
“Our team is conducting initial visual checkouts of the rocket, spacecraft and ground system equipment with the cameras at the launch pad,” Jim Free, associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, said via Twitter (opens in new tab) on Thursday afternoon.
“Camera inspections show very minor damage such as loose caulk and tears in weather coverings,” he added. “The team will conduct additional onsite walkdown inspections of the vehicle soon.”
Related: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission: Live updates
More: 10 wild facts about the Artemis 1 moon mission
Sensors at Pad 39B recorded peak wind gusts of 82 mph (132 kph) at an altitude of 60 feet (18 meters) during Nicole’s passage, Free said.
Those wind speeds are “within the rocket’s capability,” he noted. “We anticipate clearing the vehicle for those conditions shortly.”
Indeed, SLS is designed to handle winds up to 85 mph (137 kph) at the 60-foot level “with structural margin,” NASA officials said in a statement on Tuesday (Nov. 8).
Artemis 1 will send Orion on an uncrewed trip to lunar orbit and back. NASA is gearing up to launch the mission as soon as Wednesday (Nov. 16). It’s unclear if Nicole has changed that calculus; Free’s Twitter post didn’t mention the schedule or any possible changes to it.
Weather has already kept Artemis 1 on the ground longer than originally planned. The mission was supposed to fly in late September, but NASA rolled SLS and Orion off Pad 39B and back to KSC’s cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building to shelter from Hurricane Ian.
Artemis 1 rolled back out to the pad on Nov. 4. Nicole’s approach caused NASA to push the planned launch back by two days, from Nov. 14 to Nov. 16. But mission team members opted to keep the rocket on the pad through the landfall of the storm, which grew to be considerably stronger than early forecasts had predicted.
“With the unexpected change to the forecast, returning to the Vehicle Assembly Building was deemed to be too risky in high winds, and the team decided the launch pad was the safest place for the rocket to weather the storm,” Free said.
As its name suggests, Artemis 1 is the first mission in NASA’s Artemis program of moon exploration.
If all goes well on Artemis 1, Artemis 2 will launch astronauts on a mission around the moon as early as 2024. Artemis 3 will then put boots down near the lunar south pole in 2025 or 2026, if current schedules hold.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
Tropical Storm Nicole batters Florida and NASA’s Artemis 1 rocket
Tropical Storm Nicole battered central Florida Thursday (Nov. 10) where NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket waits on the launch pad on the state’s Space Coast.
The storm made landfall just south of Cape Canaveral, home to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in the early morning hours on Thursday while it was still rated as a hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS). NOAA radar imagery showed the storm producing sustained winds of 75 mph (opens in new tab) (120 km/h) when it reached the Florida coast around 3 a.m. (0800 GMT).
Satellite imagery shows the storm moving to the west-northwest at 14 mph (22 km/h), where it will move across Central Florida throughout Thursday (Nov. 10) morning and into the Gulf of Mexico. Despite the storm weakening as it made landfall, there is still a chance that high winds and flooding could damage or otherwise further delay the launch of NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket as it braces against the storm on Launch Pad 39B at KSC.
Related: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission: Live updates
More: 10 wild facts about the Artemis 1 moon mission
Tropical Storm Nicole is now centered over Central Florida creating “strong winds, dangerous storm surge and waves, and heavy rains,” according to the National Hurricane Center (opens in new tab) in Miami. The storm remains a life-threatening situation, the center wrote.
The SLS vehicle is designed to be able to withstand winds of up to 85 mph (137 km/h), NASA said in a statement on Nov. 8 (opens in new tab). The sustained winds of Tropical Storm Nicole were just under that rating when the storm made landfall, but there have been gusts reported that have exceeded that rating (opens in new tab), according to Spaceflight Now. The Orlando Sentinel reported that some sensors at Launch Pad 39B recorded a maximum gust of 100 mph (opens in new tab) at 4:15 a.m. EST (0915 GMT) while winds averaged 85 mph.
In terms of the heavy rainfall the storm is bringing, NASA writes in the statement that SLS “is designed to withstand heavy rains at the launch pad and the spacecraft hatches have been secured to prevent water intrusion.”
Livestreams of KSC (opens in new tab) courtesy of NASASpaceflight.com show Artemis 1’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket sitting on the pad as heavy rains obscure it from view. The camera focused on the rocket can be seen shaking in high winds intermittently as Tropical Storm Nicole swirls overhead.
It’s not yet known if the storm will cause further delays of the launch of the highly anticipated launch of the Artemis 1 moon mission. NASA already delayed its launch to Wednesday (Nov. 16) to allow personnel to shelter from the storm. This is not the first time the launch has been delayed due to a storm; Hurricane Ian in late September forced NASA to roll SLS back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for shelter while critical repairs on glitching fueling valves were performed.
As the launch of Artemis 1 continues to be delayed, there are growing concerns that some of the SLS vehicle’s components could expire based on current NASA analyses of their lifespans. If the launch is pushed back past mid-December, the agency will have to conduct further reviews to determine if the vehicle’s boosters and other components remain launch-worthy.
When Artemis 1 launches, it will send the Orion spacecraft into orbit around the moon and deploy a tranche of cubesats carrying various scientific experiments. The mission is designed to gather data that will inform later Artemis missions that will see crews land near the lunar south pole and eventually establish a permanent human presence on our moon.
Follow Brett on Twitter at @bretttingley (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
Tropical Storm Nicole live updates: Makes landfall as hurricane in Florida
Nicole weakened back into a tropical storm shortly after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane along Florida’s east coast early Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm currently has maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour, as it moves inland across the Sunshine State. To be classified as a hurricane, a tropical cyclone must have maximum sustained winds of at least 74 mph.
Nevertheless, the National Weather Service warned that “strong winds, dangerous storm surge and waves, and heavy rains continue over a large area.”
A hurricane warning from Boca Raton to the Flagler-Volusia County line in eastern Florida has been changed to a tropical storm warning. A tropical storm warning south of Boca Raton to Hallandale Beach, Florida, has also been discontinued, along with a hurricane watch for Florida’s Lake Okeechobee.
A storm surge warning from North Palm Beach to Jupiter Inlet in eastern Florida has been discontinued. A storm surge watch south of North Palm Beach to Hallandale Beach, Florida, has also been discontinued.
All warnings have been discontinued for the northwestern Bahamas, according to the National Weather Service.
Tropical Storm Nicole pushes Artemis 1 moon launch to Nov. 16
Mother Nature is being particularly unkind to NASA’s highly anticipated Artemis 1 moon mission.
The agency had been planning to launch Artemis 1 from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) next Monday (Nov. 14). But Tropical Storm Nicole is bearing down on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, so NASA has pushed the planned liftoff back two days, to Nov. 16.
“Adjusting the target launch date will allow the workforce to tend to the needs of their families and homes, and provide sufficient logistical time to get back into launch status following the storm,” NASA officials said in an emailed statement on Tuesday evening (Nov. 8).
Related: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission: Live updates
More: 10 wild facts about the Artemis 1 moon mission
Artemis 1, the first mission in NASA’s Artemis program of moon exploration, will use a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to launch an uncrewed Orion capsule to lunar orbit.
Artemis 1 was originally supposed to launch in late August, but glitches pushed the target date back by a month. And then Hurricane Ian boiled up in the Atlantic, forcing NASA to roll the Artemis 1 stack off KSC’s Launch Pad 39B and back into the facility’s huge Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in late September.
Artemis 1 stayed in the VAB for more than a month, as mission team members performed a variety of repair and maintenance work. The vehicle rolled back out to the pad on Nov. 4, and it will stay there through Nicole’s landfall. The strengthening storm is expected to slam into Florida early Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane, according to CNN (opens in new tab).
“The SLS rocket is designed to withstand 85 mph (74.4-knot) winds at the 60-foot level with structural margin,” NASA officials wrote in Tuesday’s update. “Current forecasts predict the greatest risks at the pad are high winds that are not expected to exceed the SLS design. The rocket is designed to withstand heavy rains at the launch pad, and the spacecraft hatches have been secured to prevent water intrusion.”
KSC is currently in a Hurricane Condition (HURCON) III status, which means site staff are securing property and equipment and fielding a “ride-out team” that will remain at the center throughout the storm to ensure that all is well.
The Nov. 16 launch is scheduled to occur during a two-hour window that opens at 1:04 a.m. EST (0604 GMT). If Artemis 1 does get off the ground on that date, the mission will end with an ocean splashdown by Orion on Dec. 11.
If Artemis 1 cannot fly on Nov. 16, the next launch opportunity will come on Nov. 19, NASA officials said.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).