Movie courtesy of NOAA-NASA GOES Project

Image courtesy of NOAA-NASA GOES Project

By Rob Gutro, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

The first tropical depression of the season has formed in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and it is already forecast to make an impact. Landfall is expected in western central Mexico in the very early morning hours on Saturday June 20.

A tropical storm watch has already been issued for the Pacific coast of mainland Mexico. The watch extends from Topolobampo southward to El Roblito and for Las Islas Marias. A Tropical Storm Watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area, generally within 36 hours.

Although the depression just formed, forecasters think that it may have time to achieve tropical storm status before making landfall.

AT 11:00 a.m. EDT (8a.m. PDT) Tropical Depression One’s (TD1) center was located near 18.2 degrees north latitude and 108.5 degrees west longitude. That’s 370 miles south-southwest of Mazatlan, Mexico. TD1’s minimum central pressure is 1005 millibars. TD1’s maximum sustained winds are near 30 mph with higher gusts, and slow strengthening is expected. It may become Tropical Storm Andres by Friday, June 19.

The National Hurricane Center reports that “The depression is moving toward the north near 9 mph and this general motion is expected to continue through the next 24 to 36 hours…with a gradual turn toward the north-northeast late Friday. On this track…the system will be approaching the pacific coast of Mexico by Friday night or early Saturday.”

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-11) captured this satellite image of the low on June 18 at 10:00 a.m. EDT (14:00 UTC). The low is the circular area of clouds in the lower right corner of the image. Mexico and Central America are located to the right of the system, and Baja California is seen to the system’s north.

GOES is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was created by NASA’s GOES Project, located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.