Satellite shows newborn Tropical Depression 01C form in Central Pacific

NOAA’s GOES-West satellite saw that Hawaii is in the middle of a triangle of tropical cyclones. Tropical Depression 01C formed hundreds of miles southwest of Hawaii on July 10.

There are three tropical cyclones in the Central Pacific Ocean and Hawaii is in the middle of them. On July 10, newborn Tropical Depression 01C was west of Hawaii, while newborn Tropical Depression 02C was south of the Big Island. Post-Tropical Depression Ela was fizzling northeast of Hawaii.

NOAA’s GOES-West satellite provided an infrared image of the newborn depression that showed fragmented bands of thunderstorms north, west and south of the center of circulation. The image was created from NASA/NOAA’s GOES Project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

At 5 a.m. HST (11 a.m. EDT/1500 UTC) the center of Tropical Depression One-C (TD1C) was located near latitude 11.4 north and longitude 171.2 west. That puts the storm about 385 miles (615 km) south-southwest of Johnston Island, and about 1,505 miles (2,420 km) east of Wake Island. TD1C was moving toward the west near 7 mph (11 kph) and this motion is expected to gradually become northwesterly.

NOAA’s Central Pacific Hurricane Center noted that maximum sustained winds were near 35 mph (55 kph) with higher gusts. The depression is expected to reach tropical storm strength later today then continue to gradually strengthen through Sunday morning, July 12. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1006 millibars.

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