Tropical Storm Rick Struggling in the Eastern Pacific

Jon Erdman
Published: November 20,2015

Tropical Storm Rick continues to spin in the eastern Pacific Ocean, well off the Mexican coast. Except for some clusters of showers or thundershowers well removed from Rick's circulation along the Mexican Pacific coast, it is no threat to land.
A named storm so late in the eastern Pacific hurricane season is in rare company.
Here are the latest statistics, forecast path, satellite imagery, and perspective on this storm.

• Location: About 465 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California.
• Movement: Rick is moving west-northwest and should continue on that path for the next few days, remaining far removed from the Mexican coast and, thus, no threat to land.
• Intensity: Rick has not been able to organize as it moves through a region of dry air. With increasing wind shear ahead of the system, weakening is expected with Rick becoming a remnant low sometime this weekend or early next week.
• Rarity: According to NOAA's best track database, only four eastern Pacific tropical cyclones since 1949 have become tropical storms after November 19: Kenneth (Nov. 20, 2011), Sharon (Nov. 26, 1971), an unnamed tropical storm (Nov. 27, 1951) and Winnie (Dec. 4, 1983). Rick's development occurred roughly a month after the most intense hurricane on record in the Western Hemisphere, Hurricane Patricia, formed off the Mexican coast in late October.

(MORE: Hurricane Central | Most Unusual Things in Tropics in 2015)

Status, Forecast Maps

Latest Position, Intensity, Movement

Forecast Path, Intensity

MORE: Hurricane Patricia Oct. 2015 (PHOTOS)