On June 16, a large trough of low pressure formed over the western Caribbean Sea and the neighboring regions of central America. Heavy rainfall fell over adjacent landmasses as the system organized just east of the coast of Belize and moved slowly northward. By late on June 18, a huge north-south area of convection lay just to the east of the center of the disturbance, but it was still not organized enough to be considered a tropical cyclone. When it moved over the Gulf of Mexico shortly afterward, the open waters stimulated further development: finally, on June 20, it developed into Tropical Storm Cindy.
From its formation onward, Cindy did not look particularly like a tropical storm. The center remained largely devoid of convection, with several low-cloud swirls competing for dominance. Heavy rain was falling, but well away from the center in the northern semicircle. Much of this precipitation was already falling over land, from eastern Texas to the Florida panhandle. Cindy moved slowly toward the northwest as a medium-strength tropical storm through that night and June 21. Unfavorable wind shear prevented the storm from intensifying further. Early the next morning, Cindy made landfall near the border of Louisiana and Texas. After landfall, it quickly weakened to a tropical depression. The remnants of Cindy continued to bring rain over the U.S. as it traveled northeastward at a progressively faster clip over the following days.
Tropical Storm Cindy was a rather asymmetrical system with little to no convection near the center of circulation.
Cindy existed as a tropical cyclone only briefly in the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall.
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