A tropical wave crossed the tropical Atlantic and reached the Caribbean on June 25. It remained quite far south, embedded in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, and so did not exhibit any signs of development until arriving in the western Caribbean a few days later. By June 28, the disturbance was creating a large area of scattered thunderstorms near the Yucatan Peninsula and the waters to the west, but lacked any discernible center of circulation. From there, the system's west-northwestward trajectory brought it across the peninsula, preventing further organization until it reached the Bay of Campeche. There, the system found a short window of opportunity to acquire a closed center and it was designated Tropical Depression Three on June 30.
The storm's circulation was fairly broad and the associated convection diffuse, but aircraft reconaissance to the cyclone found evidence for gale force winds that evening, prompting an upgrade to Tropical Storm Chris. Very soon after the upgrade, Chris made landfall in Mexico in the state of Veracruz, south of where Tropical Storm Alberto had ten days earlier. The system rapidly weakened once inland, with the main threat being flooding rains. Chris dissipated by late morning on July 1.
The image above shows Tropical Depression Three on June 30, just before it was named. The center was already very close to the coastline of Mexico.
Chris had a very short lifetime as a tropical cyclone (circular points), but originated from a tropical wave that brought disturbed weather across the entire Caribbean.
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