A developing medicane takes shape over the eastern Mediterranean Sea. (NASA) An extremely unusual “medicane” is set to lash parts of Egypt and Israel, bringing the potential for tropical storm-force winds, heavy rainfall and perhaps even coastal flooding in spots. The hybrid low pressure system, evocative of tropical cyclones yet bearing some mid-latitude characteristics, is “incredibly rare this far east in the Mediterranean,” according to the U.K. Met Office. The well-structured system spans a 300 mile width across the extreme eastern Mediterranean Sea, parked roughly 100 miles south-southwest of Cyprus as of late afternoon Thursday Eastern Time. On satellite, it resembles a tropical cyclone, and indeed it may be somewhat close. Medicanes feature a mix of tropical and nontropical traits, with a strictly tropical cyclone virtually unheard of in the Mediterranean. That’s because the Mediterranean, for starters, isn’t in the tropics. The southernmost point in the Mediterranean Sea is […]