RapidScat shows Enrique holding tropical storm status

The National Hurricane Center deemed that the Eastern Pacific Ocean's tropical cyclone Enrique continued to hold onto tropical storm status during the morning of July 16, based on surface wind data from NASA's RapidScat instrument.

On July 14, RapidScat saw the Enrique's strongest sustained winds were near at 21 meters per second (m/s) (46.9 mph/ 75.6 kph) and just north of the center of circulation. Two days later, on July 16, 2015 at 11 a.m. EDT, National Hurricane Center forecaster Jack Beven cited RapidScat data in the hurricane forecast. Beven said, "While the convection associated with Enrique continues to decrease, data from the RapidScat instrument on the International Space Station suggest the system still had tropical storm force winds.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on July 16 the center of Tropical Storm Enrique was located near latitude 19.9 North, longitude 135.5 West. About 1,655 miles (2,665 km) west of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico. Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 kph).The estimated minimum central pressure is 1004 millibars.Enrique is moving toward the west-northwest near 8 mph (13 kph), and this general motion is expected to continue today. A turn toward the west at a slower forward speed is expected on Friday, July 17.

Beven noted that Enrique is encountering cool sea surface temperatures and a drier air mass. That combination is expected to lead to weaken the storm to a remnant low pressure area in the next day or two.