Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
Ok, somebody explain to me how it is that an ocean storm located at
37.8N, 64.9W is a Tropical Depression.

Go ahead - I'll wait.

Ah - well that's because it's a SUB tropical Depression and thus just
an ocean storm.

NOAA must be getting desperate this late into the season that their
predictions for named storms is jetting into the crapper. They
already named one Sub Tropical Storm, first of the TD of the season -
now there is this one.

And yeah, yeah, I know - height of the season is coming, yada, yada,
yada.

I'm just saying... :)
Tom,
while I am not certain when these definition of Tropical Cyclone and
Tropical Depression originated, but based upon NOAA definitions it is a
tropical Depression if the Cyclone develops in tropical or Sub-Tropical
waters.

Tropical Cyclone:
A warm-core non-frontal synoptic-scale cyclone, originating over
tropical or subtropical waters, with organized deep convection and a
closed surface wind circulation about a well-defined center. Once
formed, a tropical cyclone is maintained by the extraction of heat
energy from the ocean at high temperature and heat export at the low
temperatures of the upper troposphere. In this they differ from
extratropical cyclones, which derive their energy from horizontal
temperature contrasts in the atmosphere (baroclinic effects

Tropical Depression:
A tropical cyclone in which the maximum sustained surface wind speed
(using the U.S. 1-minute average) is 33 kt (38 mph or 62 km/hr) or less.

This definition from ( http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/A1.html)
goes back to at least 1993, so it really isn't a new definition for
Tropical Storm.

The terms "hurricane" and "typhoon" are regionally specific names for a
strong "tropical cyclone". A tropical cyclone is the generic term for a
non-frontal synoptic scale low-pressure system over tropical or
sub-tropical waters with organized convection (i.e. thunderstorm
activity) and definite cyclonic surface wind circulation (Holland 1993).

Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained surface winds of less than 17
m/s (34 kt, 39 mph) are called "tropical depressions" (This is not to be
confused with the condition mid-latitude people get during a long, cold
and grey winter wishing they could be closer to the equator ;-)). Once
the tropical cyclone reaches winds of at least 17 m/s (34 kt, 39 mph)
they are typically called a "tropical storm" and assigned a name. If
winds reach 33 m/s (64 kt, 74 mph)), then they are called:

"hurricane" (the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east
of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E)
"typhoon" (the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline)
"severe tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Pacific Ocean west of 160E or
Southeast Indian Ocean east of 90E)
"severe cyclonic storm" (the North Indian Ocean)
"tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Indian Ocean)
(Neumann 1993).