On August 23, thunderstorm activity increased markedly in association with a tropical wave situated over the western Caribbean sea, just east of the Yucatan Peninsula. Over the next day, the system brought significant rainfall to the peninsula and to other parts of Central America as it moved west-northwestward. Late on August 24, a low pressure center was identified along the tropical wave, and despite still being over land, the disturbance became more organized.
The low emerged into the Bay of Campeche on August 25, allowing the warm ocean water to fuel the development of convection near the center of circulation. By the afternoon, the convection had developed prominent banding features, meriting the upgrade of the disturbance into Tropical Depression Six. As the cyclone formed, it was already in a stage of rapid development, and aircraft data indicated that Six had strengthened into Tropical Storm Fernand just two hours after its initial designation. In addition, however, the same data suggested that the center had reformed farther south, and the track adjustment reduced Fernand's time over open water. Therefore, even as a concentrated inner core of very cold cloud tops developed, bringing Fernand to its peak intensity of 50 mph winds and a pressure of 1001 mb, the tropical storm swiftly made landfall in Mexico very early on August 26. By late that afternoon, Fernand had dissipated.
In the above image, Tropical Storm Fernand was in the midst of rapid development, though this process was quelled almost immediately by interaction with land.
Fernand was a very short-lived system, persisting as a tropical cyclone for little over a day.
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