image: This infrared image from NOAA's GOES-West satellite on Aug. 25 at 13:45 UTC (9:45 a.m. EDT) shows Tropical Storm Karina as a small area of clouds compared to massive Hurricane Marie to the east. view more
Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project
Hurricane Marie is a powerhouse in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and because it is close to Tropical Storm Karina, Karina is being weakened by wind shear from the larger, more powerful storm. NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured the tiny storm near Hurricane Marie today.
On August 23, Karina had strengthened into a hurricane and by the next day wind shear had weakened the storm back into a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds near 70 mph (110 kph). Satellite data on August 24 gave Karina the classic appearance of a sheared tropical cyclone, showing the strongest storms on the eastern side of the center. That means strong vertical westerly wind shear was battering the storm and pushing the strongest thunderstorms east of the center.
By August 25, the strongest thunderstorms in Karina dissipated. Very early in the morning the strong thunderstorms were located to the west-northwest of the center, pushed by vertical wind shear from the east-southeast. By mid-morning, they had disappeared from satellite imagery. Moderate east-southeasterly vertical shear was still being produced by Marie's large upper-level anticyclone to the east, and is expected to further weaken Karina.
An infrared image from NOAA's GOES-West satellite on August 25 at 13:45 UTC (9:45 a.m. EDT) showed Tropical Storm Karina as a small area of clouds compared to massive Hurricane Marie to the east. The image was created at the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.
By 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on August 25, Karina's maximum sustained winds had dropped to 40 mph (65 kph). Karina was located near 17.2 north latitude and 128.4 west longitude, about 1,260 miles (2,030 km) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Karina was moving to the east-southeast at 10 mph (17 kph) and is expected to continue in that direction for the next couple of days.
Forecasters expect Karina to move around the western to southwestern edge of Hurricane Marie today and weaken to a depression. Karina is expected to continue moving around Marie's edge tomorrow while weakening into a remnant low pressure area.