- Tropical Storm Cindy fizzled out late Sunday night, but that may not be the end of it.
- It could bounce back later this week near Bermuda.
- Over the weekend there appears to be no threat to other land areas.
Tropical Storm Cindy could get a second life later this week and could become a rare depression or storm near Bermuda in late June or early July, but poses no threat to other land areas.
Hasn’t Cindy already fizzled out? Technically yes.
The National Hurricane Center issued its “final warning” on Cindy late Sunday night. At this point, the NHC determined that wind shear had blown the thunderstorms away from their previous center and that their center was no longer a closed circulation but an open tropical wave.
Wind shear analysis, satellite imagery and NHC development area
(Cloud areas are shown in white. Areas of strong wind shear, the difference in wind speed and direction with altitude, are shown in purple. Strong wind shear is hostile to mature tropical cyclones and those trying to develop. The possible areas ) of Tropical development according to the latest outlook from the National Hurricane Center are represented by polygons, color-coded by the probability of development over the next seven days. An “X” indicates the location of a current disruption.)
Here’s why Cindy might come back: As the map above shows, Cindy’s remains, or “ghost,” are expected to migrate north into a small pocket with less wind shear than the one that ripped her apart last weekend.
This, combined with a still relatively warm ocean, could cause thunderstorms to build up again and form a tropical depression or storm later this week as it hits near Bermuda.
Therefore, the NHC has given Cindy’s spirit a chance to develop. Should there be another depression or storm, it would keep the same name.
NHC development opportunity and current water temperatures
(The possible areas of tropical development according to the National Hurricane Center’s latest forecast are indicated by polygons, color-coded by the likelihood of development over the next seven days. An “X” indicates the location of a current disturbance.)
When it comes back to life, this is where it can go. After sweeping across Bermuda on Thursday or Friday, this system may drift north or even slightly east. If it did regenerate, most forecasts point to either a depression or, at most, a mild tropical storm.
Regardless, the second bounce might not last long. That’s because that brief window of reduced wind shear may hit and the system sheaves one last time.
Therefore, it is currently not a threat to other land areas.
Perspective – another curiosity?
Cindy and Bret already made history when they became the first pair of simultaneous active storms in June since 1968.
Never before had more than one such storm formed east of the Lesser Antilles in the same June hurricane season until Bret and Cindy did.
“Zombie Storms” isn’t as weird as it sounds. Roughly every few years, the Atlantic Basin sees storms come back to life.
The last time this happened was in September 2020, when Paulette subsequently regenerated into a tropical storm near the Azores swept across Bermuda as a hurricane.
The most notorious recent example of such a zombie storm was Harvey, which, after degenerating into a tropical wave in the central Caribbean, quickly became a Category 4 hurricane, which then inundated the coasts of Texas and Louisiana in August 2017.
There are few tracks near Bermuda at this time of year. Aside from the somewhat odd nature of regeneration, there aren’t many tropical cyclone tracks in this part of the Atlantic basin at this time of year.
Only three other depressions or storms were recorded in the NOAA database within 60 nautical miles of Bermuda in June.
Before becoming a hurricane later, Tropical Storm Chris in June 2012 was the last storm of its kind.
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