image: This infrared image from the GOES-13 satellite captured both Tropical Storm Bret (lower left) and newborn Tropical Storm Cindy (upper right) at 0845 UTC (4:45 a.m. EDT) in the North Atlantic. view more
Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project
Two tropical storms are now in the open waters of the North Atlantic: Bret and Cindy. Both were captured on one image from NASA today. Both storms are hundreds of miles to the east-northeast of Bermuda and pose no threat to land areas.
NASA's GOES Project issued an infrared image of both Bret and Cindy today from the GOES-13 satellite, which is operated by NOAA. The NASA GOES Project is housed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and uses GOES-13 data from NOAA to create images and animations. The image was captured at 0845 UTC (4:45 a.m. EDT) and shows Bret about 405 miles east-southeast of Bermuda, while Cindy is about 975 miles east-northeast of Bermuda.
At 5 a.m. EDT, Bret was still holding on to tropical storm status with maximum sustained winds near 40 mph, just over the 39 mph threshold. It was moving to the northeast near 8 mph and is expected to continue in this direction while speeding up and weakening over the next couple of days. Bret's center was near 33.1 North latitude and 71.7 West longitude. Bret is expected to dissipate by the weekend. Infrared satellite data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite indicated that the cloud top temperatures in the southern quadrant of the Bret are as cold as -70 Celsius, indicating strong, high thunderstorms and strong convection.
Meanwhile Tropical Storm Cindy developed overnight from System 99L that NASA was watching yesterday afternoon. Cindy developed into Tropical Depression 3, and quickly grew into a tropical storm and got her name.
As of 5 a.m. EDT today, July 21, Cindy's maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph, and she's expected to strengthen over the next day before colder waters sap her energy. She's centered near 38.3 North and 49.1 West and moving to the northeast at a speedy 28 mph. Cindy's forward speed is also expected to increase over the next couple of days. Her minimum central pressure is near 1002 millibars.