Chris downgraded to tropical depression, heads toward Cuba

Posted on Fri, Aug. 04, 2006

Chris downgraded to tropical depression, heads toward Cuba
BY MARTIN MERZER
mmerzer@MiamiHerald.com

Forecasters downgraded a weakening Chris to a tropical depression this
morning as the system stumbled toward Cuba. It still could deliver some
rain to South Florida this weekend, forecasters said, but it posed no
serious danger.

Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 35 mph, 4 mph below the
threshold of a tropical storm.

''Satellite images and data from a reconnaissance aircraft indicate that
Chris has weakened to a tropical depression,'' said forecaster Michelle
Mainelli of the National Hurricane Center in West Miami-Dade County.
``However, the possibility remains for Chris to regain tropical storm
status.''

As a precaution, tropical storm warnings and watches remained posted in
some of the Bahamian islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands. She said
those alerts probably would be rescinded later today as the depression
moves west toward to Cuba.

''On this track, the storm is not expected to make a direct impact on
South Florida,'' according to a local advisory issued this morning by
the National Weather Service. ``However, forecasts should be closely
monitored for updates.

''Moisture will increase over all of South Florida Saturday night and
Sunday as Chris passes to the South,'' the advisory said. ``This will
lead to the development of numerous thunderstorms, mainly on Sunday.
Thunderstorms will decrease to normal August levels by early next week.''

Hurricane forecasters said hostile crosswinds continued to tear at the
system. Those winds could diminish, the forecasters said, but most
computerized models suggested that they would essentially destroy Chris
within a few days at most.

Still, the storm is expected to produce two to four inches of rain in
the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the southeast
Bahamas, Haiti and eastern Cuba, with up to six inches falling on some
higher terrain.

At 8 a.m. EDT, Chris' center was located near latitude 21.2 north,
longitude 701.1 west or about 20 miles south of Grand Turk Island.

The storm was moving toward the west at 13 mph, and that motion was
expected to continue during the next 24 hours.

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