Beta Weakens to a depression over central Nicaragua

As of 10:00 p.m. EST Sunday, Tropical Depression Beta was centered near 12.7 north and 85.3 west, or about 70 miles east-northeast of Managua, Nicaragua. Beta is moving west at about 9 mph. Beta continues to weaken and has maximum sustained winds of 25 mph. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1002 millibars, or 29.59 inches of mercury. Early Sunday morning, Beta peaked in intensity as a Category 3, or major hurricane, on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Beta became the seventh major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season. The other major hurricanes so far this year are: Dennis, Emily, Katrina, Maria, Rita and Wilma. The all-time record for the most major hurricanes in the Atlantic basin in a single season is 8 set in 1950.

Beta made landfall on the coast of Nicaragua Sunday morning and it has weakened to a depression over central Nicaragua Sunday night. Beta is on the move and it will cross western Nicaragua Sunday night and should move into the Pacific Ocean on Monday, probably near southern El Salvador. It is interesting to note that the latest GFDL model ramps up Beta back to hurricane status over the Pacific Ocean Monday night. Heavy flooding rains will occur over parts of western Nicaragua and Honduras Sunday night and could spread into El Salvador and southern Guatemala Monday.

A tropical wave currently across the northwest Caribbean will interact with a stationary frontal zone across the Bahamas and Cuba causing tropical moisture to increase northward into southern Florida on Tuesday. Combine this with a digging upper trough of low pressure across the northern Gulf and moisture from Beta streaming north, and the result could be an area of low pressure near the Bahamas or Florida, or even the eastern Gulf on Tuesday or Wednesday. Whether it becomes a tropical cyclone remains to be seen as there will be plenty of southwest shear from the eastern Gulf across Florida into the northern Bahamas.

A tropical wave along 61 west and south of 20 north continues to cause showers and thunderstorms across the Lesser Antilles Sunday night. There is some southerly shear overtop of the wave as an upper level trough of low pressure over the eastern Caribbean backs to the west. This will help ventilate thunderstorms associated with the wave so it will have to be watched for potential development.