A brand new tropical cyclone has formed off the coast of Mexico in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Being termed as Tropical Storm Paine, it could bring heavy showers over Southwest United States later this week. However, the storm is not likely to make landfall.
Paine is gaining strength and is expected to intensify into a hurricane by Monday, before it begins to imbibe the effects of cooler water. By Wednesday, the weather system will weaken significantly into a low pressure area.
On Sunday evening, the storm was located about 345 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. Over the next few days, Tropical Storm Paine will track northwestward, moving parallel to the coast of Mexico's Baja California.
If we take a closer look at its projected path (image above) we ca see that it will weaken before reaching the coastal areas. Therefore, Paine is expected to remain parallel to the coast of Mexico until Tuesday or Wednesday. It will not bring damaging winds or torrential rains. Moderate rains and thunderstorm activity will be seen over Southwest US. Southern parts of California and the desert areas of Southwest will also be affected.
We cannot rule out the possibility of drenching showers and thunderstorms along with flash flooding in isolated places from western Arizona to southwestern Colorado on Monday and Tuesday.
Image Credit - CIMSS
