Dear Tom,
We’ve had Frances and now Ivan is coming. What happened to the G and H storms?
Jerry Hartmann, South Holland
Dear Jerry,
Tropical cyclones are named when their sustained winds reach tropical storm strength of 39 m.p.h. Frances, a long-lived storm, attained named status on Aug. 25 and lost tropical characteristics on Sept. 6. Following Frances, Tropical Storm Gaston developed off of South Carolina on Aug. 28, but dissipated just 4 days later on Sept. 1 near Nova Scotia. T.S. Hermine came into being just one day after Gaston formed on Aug. 29, but quickly faded near New Brunswick on Aug. 31. For a short period, the Tropical Prediction Center was issuing concurrent advisories on all three storms. Ivan was not named until Sept. 3, a time when Frances was still headline news, but Gaston and Hermine were no longer in existence.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or asktomwhy@wgntv.com (Mail volume precludes personal response.)
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
