Tropical Depression 97W passing through central Philippines

Tropical Depression 97W hasn't grown into a tropical storm and is now tracking through the central Philippines, far south of Manila. The storm is weakening and is dissipating, and NASA's Aqua satellite verified that the thunderstorm cloud tops are not as cold as they were yesterday, indicating a weakening storm.

At 11 a.m. local (Asia/Manila) time on November 3, TD97W had maximum sustained winds near 30 knots (34 mph) and higher gusts. It was located 160 miles east of Manila, near 14.1 North and 123.7 East. The storm is kicking up 12-foot high waves.

NASA's Aqua satellite flew over 97W at 1:30 a.m. local Asia/Manila Time this morning, November 3. An infrared image from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument revealed warmer thunderstorm cloud tops, little or no convection (rapidly rising air that forms thunderstorms, and powers tropical cyclones).

Tropical Depression 97W (TD97W), named "Tino" in the Philippines, is forecast to move on a south-southwesterly track, over Tabaco City, Ligao, Oas, and Naga City into the Ragay Gulf. It will continue moving south-southwest through the Sibuyan Sea and into the Mindoro Strait, while bringing rains to areas that include the cities of Kalibo, Roxas City and San Jose de Buenavista.

The U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), the organization that forecasts tropical cyclones in that part of the world, noted in their discussion this morning, "Animated multi-spectral imagery shows an increasingly exposed low level circulation center (LLCC) with very little to no central convection. Over the past 12 hours, the deep convection has waned and the LLCC has steadily tracked southward with the low- to mid-level northeasterly flow associated with the cold surge coming off the Asian land mass."

Because of the lack of convection (thunderstorm formation) and a more disorganized center of circulation, the JWTC issued their final warning on the storm this morning.

History of 97W can be found at: www.nasa.gov/hurricane

November 3, 2009