Tropical Storm Rachel is forecast to weaken during the coming 48 hours as the tropical cyclone moves toward the north approximately 485 miles west of the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, National Hurricane Center forecasters in Miami say.
Tropical Storm Rachel is forecast to weaken during the coming 48 hours as the tropical cyclone moves toward the north approximately 485 miles west of the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, National Hurricane Center forecasters in Miami say.
Rachel, as of 5 a.m. Hawaii time on Monday, was packing maximum sustained winds of 60 mph with higher gusts, forecasters said. It is moving toward the west-northwest around 12 mph.
Steady weakening of Rachel is forecast during the next 48 hours. Tropical Storm Rachel is expected to be downgraded to a remnant low early on Tuesday.
Tropical storm force winds currently extend outward from the center of Rachel up to 70 miles.
Forecasters are also monitoring a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms associated with a trough of low pressure that extends several hundred miles southeastward along the coast of southern Mexico. Environmental conditions appear conducive for gradual development while the system moves west-northwestward and a tropical depression could form later this week.
The center gave the system a 20 percent of forming into a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours and a 70 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone within five days.
National Hurricane Center officials in May predicted 14 to 20 named storms and seven to 11 hurricanes — including three to six major hurricanes — to form this year in the Eastern Pacific Basin. Overall, they gave the 2014 season a 50 percent chance of being above normal, 40 percent chance of being near-normal and a 10 percent chance of being below normal.
The Eastern Pacific averages 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes each year, according to the center.
The Eastern Pacific hurricane season began May 15 and ends Nov. 30.
