(SUN-SENTINEL) — Tropical Storm Isaac’s wind speeds have slowed to 45 mph as of Thursday morning, and the National Hurricane Center predicts that the storm will gradually weaken as it heads through the Eastern Caribbean in the coming hours.
Storms that head through the Caribbean at this time of year have the potential to be steered north toward the United States.
But for Isaac, conditions in the Caribbean Sea don’t seem to be there to promote longevity. Wind shear, which refers to fluctuations in wind strength in the atmosphere, something that tears storms apart, is present in Isaac’s path.
Isaac is forecast to move into the eastern Caribbean Sea on Thursday, and then move across the eastern and central Caribbean Sea through Saturday, the hurricane center said.
As of Thursday at 8 a.m., Isaac was about 25 miles east of Dominica, an island on the eastern rim of the Caribbean.
“This high shear is forecast to remain for the next day or two, and it is possible that Isaac will degrade into a tropical wave during that time, although the area of tropical-storm-force winds will likely not go away for a while,” said a forecast discussion by the National Hurricane Center.
“In a couple of days, while the wind shear could decrease over the east-central Caribbean Sea, there might not be much of a system left to take advantage of the more conducive conditions.”
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