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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Sea surface temperature anomalies for April 29, 2010 -- massive buildup between northern coast of South America and West Africa

Sea surface temperature anomalies for April 29, 2010 -- massive buildup between northern coast of South America and West Africa means if wind shear drops, some very strong hurricanes may form.  [Click on image to enlarge and see to Africa.]  The solar equator has not even reached the Tropic of Cancer, meaning that there are about 2 more months to go and then it will start coming back south for several months, all months that will warm those waters.

From wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_of_Cancer

The Tropic of Cancer is the circle of latitude on the earth that marks the apparent position of the sun at the time of the northern solstice.

Also referred to as the Northern tropic, it is one of the two tropics (with the Tropic of Capricorn) that represent the extremes of the sun's path across the sky with the change of the seasons.

Because of the tilt of the earth's axis of rotation relative to the plane of its orbit around the sun, the sun is directly overhead on the Tropic of Cancer at the June solstice. It is the northernmost latitude at which the sun reaches 90 degrees above the horizon at its zenith, with the Northern Hemisphere tilted toward the sun to its maximum extent.

The tropics are two of the five major degree measures or major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth, besides the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and the Equator.

The Tropic of Cancer currently (Epoch 2010) lies 23º 26′ 17″ north of the Equator [1].
It is drifting south at the rate of almost half a second (0.47) of latitude per year (it was at exactly 23º 27' in year 1917).[2]