Around June 17, a new tropical wave showed signs of development in the eastern Atlantic. Though thunderstorm activity was limited at first, it blossomed on June 20 when persistent convection covered the nascent circulation. Finally, early on June 22, the small system was organized enough to be designated Tropical Depression Four.
Initially, the center of circulation was on the eastern edge of the convective canopy, but the storm gradually became better organized throughout the day and was ultimately named Tropical Storm Cindy that evening. The previously formed Tropical Storm Bret and Cindy both formed in the tropical Atlantic east of the Caribbean sea during the month of June, the first time on record two storms had been named in that region during hurricane season's first month. It was also the first instance of simultaneous June named storms since 1968. The extremely warm waters in the vicinity were the main cause of that event.
Cindy was moving west-northwest steadily under the influence of the subtropical ridge, which had retreated northward a bit after keeping Bret on a more westward trek into the Caribbean. The storm intensified on June 23, though in fits and starts: it developed a banding structure in the early morning only for most convection to collapse in the afternoon and then return with a venegeance in the evening. The net result was that Cindy reached a peak of 60 mph winds before increasing shear began to expose the center of circulation again, this time on the northwest side of the thunderstorm activity.
Cindy turned toward the northwest and passed well northeast of the Lesser Antilles on June 24. The wind shear affecting the cyclone shifted to come from the southwest and increased even more. The storm's structure did not long survive this onslaught and Cindy dissipated late on June 25.
The image above shows Cindy northeast of the Lesser Antilles.
Cindy reached an area of high shear after passing 60 °W and dissipated not long after that.
No comments:
Post a Comment