Busy for mid-late July

Mark Avery, Lead Meteorologist, The Weather Channel
7:00 a.m. ET 7/21/2008

The tropics continue to be active for mid to late July in both the Atlantic and eastern Pacific.

In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Cristobal is picking up speed and is moving away from North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Its main impacts along the United States’ East Coast will be rough surf and dangerous rip currents from Cape Hatteras northward to Cape Cod today, while most of the rainfall and strong winds stay away from the coast. As of 5 am EDT, Cristobal was located about 110 miles northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with maximum sustained winds near 50 miles per hour, and is moving to the northeast near 13 miles per hour. Cristobal is currently not expected to strengthen, but is expected to increase its forward motion as it is picked up by the system moving out of the Midwest and be directed towards the Canadian Maritimes.

Also in the Atlantic basin is Tropical Storm Dolly. Dolly formed yesterday from a strong tropical wave that moved through the Caribbean over the weekend, and is now moving across the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. As of 5 am EDT, Dolly was located about 150 miles east of Progreso, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds near 50 miles per hour, and is moving to the northwest near 15 miles per hour. Dolly is expected to begin to strengthen once it emerges off the Yucatan Coast later today and begin to track across the southwestern Gulf of Mexico towards the northern Mexico Coast and South Texas Coast with an eventual landfall anticipated Wednesday as a hurricane. Rain from the outer fringes of Dolly will begin to impact the western Gulf of Mexico’s coastline tomorrow afternoon with deteriorating conditions as the low moves closer. Residents of South Texas and northern Mexico should pay close attention to Dolly’s forecast.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic basin, a strong tropical wave is currently located over western Africa and is expected to emerge into the Atlantic later today. This wave will need to be monitored closely for possible development.

In the eastern Pacific, Hurricane Fausto continues to move parallel to the Baja California Coast, bringing rough surf and dangerous rip currents to the Mexican West Coast. As of 2 am PDT, Fausto was located about 405 miles west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds near 100 miles per hour (making Fausto a category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale), and is moving to the northwest near 13 miles per hour. Fausto is expected to slowly weaken over the next day or two.

Elsewhere in the eastern Pacific, and area of low pressure south of Acapulco, Mexico is being monitored for possible tropical development over the next day or two.

In the central Pacific, the remnant low pressure from former Hurricane Elida is located about 890 miles east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, but it is lacking any thunderstorm activity and is not expected to regenerate.