Tropical Storm Cindy made landfall in Southwestern Louisiana around 4:00 AM CDT Thursday morning, west of the town of Cameron. Cindy at the time of landfall had maximum sustained winds of 35 knots (40 mph) with a minimum pressure of 994 mb. Since landfall, the appearance of Cindy has degraded, and Cindy has since been downgraded to a tropical depression. Cindy remains a tropical depression this evening, but advisories are now being issued by the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) instead of the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The tropical storm warnings have been discontinued. The WPC will continue to issue advisories on Cindy as long as it remains a flood threat, even after it degenerates into a remnant low.

As of 4:00 PM CDT Thursday, Cindy was located over northwestern Louisiana near 31.9°N 93.7°W. Maximum sustained winds were estimated to be 20 knots (25 mph) with a minimum pressure of 999 mb. Cindy still has a somewhat vigorous center of circulation, but thunderstorm activity has decreased since landfall. Cindy is expected to weaken to a remnant low during the next 12 hours, with the remnant low eventually taking a northeastward turn and merging with a frontal system this weekend. Heavy rains are likely to continue on Cindy’s path for the next two days or so. So far, Ocean Spring, Mississippi has had the highest rainfall total with Cindy, totaling 12.30 inches.

A system worth watching in the East Pacific, Atlantic tropical wave unlikely to develop

An area of low pressure located south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec has the potential to develop into a small tropical cyclone during the next several days. As of 5:00 PM PDT Thursday, the NHC gave this system a 20 percent chance of development within 48 hours and a 50 percent chance within five days. This system is expected to move northwest parallel the coast of Mexico and is not likely to make landfall. There is some model support for the formation of this system, with both the GFS and ECMWF forecasting a tropical storm to develop by Sunday. The next name on the East Pacific naming list is Dora.

In the Atlantic, the GFS model has continued to indicate the slight possibility of tropical development southeast of the Cape Verde Islands, but the model has backed off somewhat from yesterday. No other reliable global models predict development of this tropical wave, and it is unlikely that anything will happen with this system.

This is my final post on Cindy. I will be back tomorrow for my weekly “A Look At The Atlantic” post.  After Cindy, the Atlantic is likely to enter a quiet period for a while, with most of the activity during the next month or so being in the Pacific.