Tropical Storm Daniel to Strengthen into a Hurricane

By Brian Edwards, Meteorologist
July 06, 2012; 12:49 AM
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Tropical Storm Daniel churning over the eastern Pacific early Friday, as shown in this infrared satellite image. (NOAA).

Tropical Storm Daniel formed in the eastern Pacific early Wednesday and further strengthening is possible during the latter part of the week.

For the latest stats on Daniel, visit the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center.

Environmental conditions are favorable for additional strengthening of this feature thanks to sea surface temperatures over much of the Eastern Pacific at or above 80 degrees.

Along with the warm waters, the amount of "wind shear" or twisting of the winds throughout the atmosphere remains very low.

Therefore, further strengthening into a hurricane is possible, potentially as early as Friday night.

Daniel is tracking west away from land, which is good news for tourists and residents of the southern coast of Mexico.

Still, higher-than-normal coastal tides and waves will develop across the Mexican states of Jalisco, Colima and Michoacan through Friday.

Wave heights along the coast will rise to between 5 and 7 feet as Daniel continues to strengthen. Dangerous rip currents will also become an issue for visitors to resorts along the coast.

Just as this storm tracks out into the open waters of the Eastern Pacific this weekend, we will turn our attention to another tropical wave which is currently off the coast of Costa Rica.

This wave is producing showers and thunderstorms over a large area of the Eastern Pacific off the western coast of Central America.

Currently, the storms associated with the wave are very disorganized. However, as this feature continues to track westward over the next few days, it will encounter the same favorable conditions that allowed Daniel to develop and strengthen.

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