NASA-NOAA’s Finnish nuclear power plant sees tropical depression 3E messed up
The third tropical cyclone of the eastern Pacific hurricane season formed on Sunday, June 11 at 5 a.m. EDT about 120 miles (190 km) south of Salina Cruz, Mexico. Tropical Depression 3E moved north and turned northwest, slowly tracking landward. Satellite images from NASA and NOAA show that the system appears elongated.
On June 11, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite provided a visible light image of a disorganized Tropical Depression 3E approaching southwestern Mexico. Satellite images revealed that thunderstorms occasionally develop near the center of circulation and northwest of the center. The National Hurricane Center said this is likely due to moderate easterly vertical wind shear. The development of thunderstorms northwest of the center gives the storm a more “stretched” appearance from the northwest to the southeast.
As of June 12, a tropical storm warning was in effect for the Pacific coast of southeastern Mexico from Boca De Pijijiapan to Punta Maldonado.
Because of the proximity of the Mexican coast, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast said locally heavy rains and dangerous mudslides are possible. The NHC said Tropical Depression 3E (TD3E) “is likely to produce 5 to 10 inches of rainfall in the Mexican states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guerrero, with possible isolated maximums of 20 inches. depression It is also expected to produce 1 to 5 inches of rain in the Mexican states of Tabasco and Veracruz, as well as Guatemala. These rains can cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.”
At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC), the center of Tropical Depression Three-E was located near latitude 15.4 N and longitude 95.3 W. It is about 45 miles (75 km) southwest of Salina Cruz, Mexico. The depression is moving northwest at 3 mph (6 km/h), and this general motion is expected to continue through Tuesday. On the forecast track, the center of the tropical cyclone will be near the coast of Mexico in the warning area this evening.
Maximum sustained winds near 35 mph (55 km/h) and higher in gusts. Some strengthening is expected, and the depression is forecast to become a tropical storm before making landfall in Mexico.
National Hurricane Center forecaster Jack Beven stated in a 4:00 a.m. EDT chat, “The cyclone is expected to remain over warm water in an environment of moderate shear until landfall, and thus is expected to gradually intensify to tropical storm strength.”
Delivered by
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Quotation: NASA-NOAA’s Finland Nuclear Power Plant Sees Disorganized Tropical Depression 3E (2017, June 12) Retrieved 11/28/2022 from https://phys.org/news/2017-06-nasa-noaa-suomi-npp-disorganized -tropical.html
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