image: Tropical Depression 21E was captured in this image from NOAA's GOES-West satellite on Oct. 30, 2014 at 1200 UTC (8 a.m. EDT). view more
Credit: Image Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project
NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured an image of the birth of the Eastern Pacific Ocean's twenty-first tropical depression, located far south of Acapulco, Mexico.
NOAA's GOES-West satellite gathered infrared data on newborn Tropical Depression 21E (TD 21E) and that data was made into an image by NASA/NOAA's GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. At 1200 UTC (9 a.m. EDT), the GOES-West image showed that thunderstorms circled the low-level center and extended northeast of the center indicating that southwesterly wind shear was affecting the storm.
At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), maximum sustained winds were near 35 mph (55 kph) and some slow strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours. TD 21E was centered near latitude 11.5 north and longitude 100.9 west. That's about 380 miles (610 km) south of Acapulco, Mexico. TD 21E was moving west at 6 mph (9 kph) and is expected to turn to the southwest on Friday, Oct. 31, followed by a turn back west on Nov. 1. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1007 millibars.
Forecaster Blake of NHC noted that although the depression is over warm water, southwesterly shear and dry air in the low- to mid-levels are expected to continue for the next day or two which will make any strengthening occur slowly.
The depression is forecast to turn west-southwestward and then southwestward over the next day and a half, and become a tropical storm.
Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center