Twenty-seven Dies, Stronger Low in the southwest Caribbean

Hello all,
As Dr. Masters indicated in his last entry, he is on a well-deserved vacation for the next few days. This gives you all an opportunity to meet the rest of the meteorologists here at the Weather Underground. Over the next few days, you may hear from John Celenza, Elaine Yang, or Tim Roche. But for now, this is Shaun Tanner giving you a rundown on the tropics.

Tropical Depression Twenty-seven and other low:

Well, the depression lost its closed circulation as per the 10:00 a.m. EST update. The remnants of this system are not expected to organize further, but instead be absorbed by a developing system in the southwest Caribbean. In fact, the latest satellite images of the system show an arm of convection pulling away from the main convection area on the west side, possibility signaling the beginnings of the absorption process.
The low center associated with the absorbing system is located a few hundred miles east of the coast of Nicaragua as per the latest water vapor imagery. A large area of clouds and convection is noted throughout the western Caribbean and over Central America as the system
progressively moves west-northwestward. Upper-level winds are favorable for the system to develop into a tropical depression over the next 24 hours or so if the core remains over its essential warm water energy source. This is the big if. The GFDL is quite progressive in intensifying this system before its landfall over Nicaragua so it should be interesting to see what kind of development occurs. Whether or not this system develops further, the Central American coast from Panama to Honduras will continue to see very heavy rainfall from this system's convection. Mudslides are certainly possible in this region already drenched by the previous week's rains.
A hurricane hunter may investigate this developing system Thursday should it be warranted.