News Release

Wind shear wipes out Tropical Cyclone Elida

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

GOES Image of Elida's Remnants

image: NOAA's GOES-West satellite's infrared data from July 2 at 9:00 UTC (5 a.m. EDT) showed Elida was almost devoid of convection. view more 

Credit: Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project

Strong northwesterly wind shear took its toll on Tropical Storm Elida, weakening it to a remnant low early on July 2. In infrared satellite imagery from NOAA's GOES-West satellite, Elida appeared to be a tight swirl of low clouds devoid of any deep convection.

Infrared satellite instruments are used to see the heat objects emit. During night-time hours when there's no sunlight to light clouds, satellites like NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite or GOES-West satellite looks at clouds in infrared light. Infrared data from NOAA's GOES-West satellite on July 2 at 9:00 UTC (5 a.m. EDT) was made into an image at NASA/NOAA's GOES Project at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The image showed Elida was almost devoid of convection (rising air that creates powerful thunderstorms that make up a tropical cyclone).

The National Hurricane Center or NHC issued their final bulletin on Elida on Wednesday, July 2 at 5 a.m. EDT (9:00 UTC). Maximum sustained winds were near 30 mph (45 kph) and weakening. The center of Post-Tropical Cyclone Elide was located near latitude 16.9 north and longitude 103.0 west, about 170 miles (270 km) south-southeast of Manzanillo Mexico The post-tropical cyclone is moving toward the southeast near 3 mph (6 kph).

The NHC expects the remnants to move westward by Thursday due to a building low-level ridge (elongated area of high pressure) over the eastern Pacific. By July fourth, Eilda's remnants are expected to degenerate into a trough or elongated area of low pressure.

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