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Hurricane Felicia Discussion Number 7
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL EP062021
200 PM PDT Thu Jul 15 2021
The evolution of Felicia's satellite imagery since last night
suggested that an eyewall replacement cycle had occurred, and
recently has completed. For the past several hours, an eye has been
occasionally appearing while surrounded by cloud tops as cold as -80
degrees C. With this eye feature becoming somewhat clearer, the
corresponding Dvorak-T numbers have increased. Based on a blend
of these latest intensity estimates from TAFB, SAB, and the
UW-CIMSS ADT, the initial advisory intensity has been increased to
85 kt.
Felicia continues to move west, or 270/09kt. The ridge currently to
the north of the hurricane is forecast to shift the northwest of
Felicia by tonight, which will force the cyclone west-southwestward
for a couple of days. By early next week, the hurricane should once
again become positioned to the south of the ridge, which would
result in a westward motion through the end of the forecast period.
The latest NHC track forecast is little changed from the previous
one, and is near the tightly clustered track guidance.
The small inner-core structure of Felicia is well established, and
the cyclone should remain in an environment of low shear and over
warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over the next 12-24 h. This
should allow for some additional strengthening. By late Friday,
Felicia is forecast to move into a drier airmass which may begin to
disrupt the convection, while the cyclone also begins to move over
slowly decreasing SSTs. This should cause the system to gradually
weaken through the remainder of the forecast period. The latest NHC
intensity forecast remains slightly above the bulk of the guidance
through 24 h due to the aforementioned favorable conditions
currently in place for strengthening. Thereafter, the forecast is
close to the HFIP Corrected Consensus Approach model HCCA.
FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS
INIT 15/2100Z 15.2N 119.4W 85 KT 100 MPH
12H 16/0600Z 15.1N 120.6W 95 KT 110 MPH
24H 16/1800Z 14.9N 122.0W 90 KT 105 MPH
36H 17/0600Z 14.6N 123.6W 90 KT 105 MPH
48H 17/1800Z 14.5N 125.3W 85 KT 100 MPH
60H 18/0600Z 14.5N 127.0W 80 KT 90 MPH
72H 18/1800Z 14.5N 128.9W 75 KT 85 MPH
96H 19/1800Z 14.5N 132.8W 65 KT 75 MPH
120H 20/1800Z 14.5N 136.5W 60 KT 70 MPH
$$
Forecaster Latto
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