Tropical Storm Cindy weakening as it moves northwest
Tropical Storm Cindy continued to weaken Sunday due to storm-shredding upper-level wind shear and dry air present over the Atlantic.
As of 11 a.m. Sunday, Cindy was 435 miles north-northeast of the Lesser Antilles in the far eastern Caribbean, moving northwest at 17 mph with maximum sustained winds at 45 mph.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend out up to 60 miles from Cindy’s center.
According to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Cindy could degenerate into a trough of low pressure by Monday night. There is a slight possibility that the storm could form again after that, forecasters said.
“After Cindy dissipates as a tropical cyclone, there remains support … that Cindy could regenerate farther to the north in several days when the shear begins to abate,” the hurricane center said in a Sunday forecast discussion.
What was Tropical Storm Bret dissipated Saturday.
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The two storm formations — Bret and Cindy — is a first for the month of June, according to meteorologist Philip Klotzbach at Colorado State University. It’s also the first time since 1968 there have been two named systems in June at the same time, he said.
On Thursday, Bret’s winds were just 4 mph shy of the minimum threshold for a Category 1 hurricane.
Bret brought floods, high winds and dangerous waves to parts of the Caribbean.
Bret and Cindy are the third and fourth official systems of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, with an unnamed January subtropical storm and early June’s Tropical Storm Arlene.
The next named storm to form would be Don.
The hurricane season runs from June 1-Nov. 30.
Experts predict 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes to develop this hurricane season.
A strong El Niño weather pattern is expected during the peak of this season, which can decrease cyclone activity in the Atlantic because of increased vertical wind shear. But ocean temperatures are the highest on record since 1979 based on recent 30-day averages, according to the forecast from Colorado State University released earlier this month.
The unusually warm temperatures could counteract the typically decreased activity during an El Niño.
