Tropical Storm Cindy- Current Data & Forecast
The Atlantic Hurricane Season is only twenty days old, but already three storms have been named. The latest, Tropical Storm Cindy, has developed in the Gulf of Mexico and will threaten Louisiana and the Gulf States with torrential rain and flash flooding.
As of 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Tropical Storm Cindy had maximum winds of 45 mph. Tropical storm force winds of 40 mph or greater extend 205 miles out from the center of the storm, mostly on the north and east sides. Weaker tropical systems are often lopsided with most of the thunderstorm activity off to one side, often the northeast side.
Even though the center of Cindy will make its way towards the Texas-Louisiana border by Thursday morning, tropical storm force winds and heavy rain are already moving into eastern Louisiana along with coastal Mississippi and Alabama.
The forecast is for Cindy to maintain its current strength before it makes landfall and dissipates later this week.
Wider Influence of Tropical Storm Cindy
Even after Cindy dissipates and is no longer a tropical storm, the moisture from Cindy will continue to have an influence on the weather pattern over the eastern United States.
A storm system will move into the middle of the country this weekend. This system will both interact with the moisture from Cindy and act as a transport mechanism to move the moisture northeast.
Thunderstorms with heavy rain will be possible throughout the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. Some of the moisture may even make it far enough north and east to reach the Finger Lakes Sunday into Monday. This remains uncertain, and the moisture could be locked away to the south.
Should it reach this far north, the rich, tropical air interacting with a front could trigger more heavy rain in the Finger Lakes as a result. This will be something to watch over the coming days.
Elsewhere in the Tropics
Cindy is currently the only active storm in the Atlantic basin.
Until just this afternoon, Cindy had been joined by Tropical Storm Bret, which was skirting just off the coast of northern South America.
However, conditions have become increasingly hostile for Bret, and the storm has lost its tropical characteristics.
There are no other areas of tropical development expected in the coming days.
