Tropical Storm Don

Tropical Storm Don was the fourth named storm of the 2017 hurricane season, forming with a max sustained wind of 40 mph on the evening of July 17 2017, after a reconnaissance aircraft flew in and found the winds to be sustained at 40 mph and a central pressure of 1009. The storm strengthened 12 hours later to its peak before falling apart 18 hours after that.

None known.

• ECMWF - Early on expected no storm to form, but became aware of a weak system a couple of days before formation. North of the Islands, then into Florida very weak.

• CMC - Developed the system early on and kept its strength, and developed it into a stronger storm later on, pretty much a hurricane or strong tropical storm recurving out to sea.

• GFS - Sniffed out the storm from the end of its runs, but made it a very strong storm either hitting the Eastern Seaboard or recurving. It recurved on more runs than it did hit land. It changed the system to weaker a couple of days before it formed. Weak out to sea, or very weak into Florida.

• GFS-PARA - Maintained the same track as the GFS, but stayed weak most runs except a few which it strengthened into a tropical storm.

• NAVGEM - Weak system the whole time, but took the storm south of the Islands instead of north.

• UKMET - Weak system either south of the Islands or north of them. Changed to strengthen the storm close to Florida, then more in the Gulf after crossing.

• HWRF - Weak system, but relative to what the storm was pressure wise, but making it a minimal tropical storm before formation.

• GFDL - Weak system, practically dissipated.

End Result: Tropical Depression 4 dissipated before impacts occurred to any region, so the ECMWF won since it kept the system relatively weak the entire time while the others blew the storm up. Unless the storm re-intensifies, the ECMWF takes the win. However, for finding the storm far out, the GFS gets a bit of credit for discovery.

Tropical Depression 4

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