July 7, 2008
Short-lived Fifth Tropical Depression Makes Landfall in Mexico
Hurricane Season 2008: Tropical Depression 5E (Eastern Pacific)
The Eastern Pacific Ocean generated its fifth tropical depression at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Saturday, July 5th. By Monday morning at 2:00 a.m. on July 7th, the National Hurricane Center issued its last advisory on the system after it made landfall in Mexico earlier.
On July 5, the depression formed from an area of disturbed weather south of Acapulco with sustained winds around 25 knots (29 mph).
After midnight on Monday, July 7, Tropical Depression Five-E made landfall just west of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico. By 2 a.m. PDT, the National Hurricane Center noted at that "the depression is dissipating over the high terrain of southwestern Mexico." At that time, It was located at 18.7 degrees north latitude and 102.9 degrees west longitude, or 65 miles northwest of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico.
The Hurricane Center expects that the remnant low will dissipate within a day, if not sooner. Despite landfall and anticipated dissipation the remnants of the depression are expected to produce very heavy rain and the potential exists for flash floods and mud slides over the mountainous terrain of Mexico.
This infrared image shows Tropical Depression 5-E as the large area of blue and purple, over the western Mexican coast. It was created by data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The image was created on July 7 at 7:11 UTC (3:11 a.m. EDT).
The AIRS image shows the temperature of the cloud tops or the surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures (in purple) are associated with high, cold cloud tops that make up the tops of Tropical Depression 5-E, and suggest rainfall. The infrared signal of the AIRS instrument does not penetrate through clouds. Where there are no clouds the AIRS instrument reads the infrared signal from the surface of the ocean waters, revealing warmer temperatures in orange and red. Notice the warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico in the deep orange colors.
Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center