A day after forming in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Dolly was downgraded to an "open tropical wave" on Friday morning, Aug. 28, as it enters a part of the ocean with significant southwesterly wind shear and dry air, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center.
It is not an immediate threat to Palm Beach County.
The remnants of Dolly still show maximum sustained winds of 40 mph as the system continues moving quickly toward the Leeward Islands. Forecasters made the change in status when they could not detect any westerly winds south of the center in satellite photos.
Forecasters say the Leeward Islands can expect heavy rain and localized flash floods from Saturday into Sunday, with rainfall moving into the Virgin Islands, Puerto
Rico and Hispaniola — the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic — on Sunday and Monday.
However, should the remnants of Dolly reach favorable conditions, there's a slight possibility it could reform as a tropical storm near the Bahamas, according to AccuWeather.
"If Dolly can survive the dry air, wind shear and land interaction near the islands, the environment does become more conducive for development and strengthening off the southeast U.S. coast mid to late next week," AccuWeather lead hurricane expert Alex DaSilva said.
Remnants of Dolly spaghetti models. See expected path
Special note about spaghetti models: Spaghetti model illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The National Hurricane Center uses only the top four or five highest performing models to help make its forecasts.
Remnants of Dolly still moving through Caribbean
How strong are winds for a tropical depression?
A tropical depression has maximum sustained surface winds — based on a one-minute average — of 38 mph or less, according to the National Weather Service.
How strong are winds for a tropical storm?
A tropical storm has maximum sustained surface winds ranging from 39-73 mph.
See NWS weather radar for Florida, southeastern US
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What's next?
We will update our tropical weather coverage.
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C. A. Bridges and Cheryl McCloud are journalists for the USA TODAY Network-Florida's service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://tcpalm.com/newsletters.
Maya Washburn is a Trending News Reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Will ex-Tropical Storm Dolly touch county? See the spaghetti models
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