Chris is sheared off
Tropical Storm Chris got his top knocked off overnight. Shearing winds from the northwest blew the top off the storm, separating the storm center from the convection and thunderstorm activity that powered it. You can watch it in the satellite loop. Notice how the bright storm activity veers off toward Puerto Rico, while the pinwheel structure of the storm's center keeps churning toward the west, like a horse that's lost its rider.
The bottom line is that the storm is weakening as it tracks mostly westward, just north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. It may not even be able to maintain tropical storm strength (39 mph). All hurricane warnings in the Bahamas have been downgraded to tropical storm warnings.
Here's the latest advisory. And here's the forecast track, which carries the storm center across to the Gulf.
