The eleventh depression of the western Pacific hurricane season formed yesterday, August 17, and is now Tropical Storm Vamco. Vamco is staying in the open waters, and is expected to continue strengthening.

On August 18 at 11 a.m. EDT, Tropical Storm Vamco had sustained winds near 50 knots (57 mph). It was centered about 1,000 nautical miles east-southeast of the Japanese island of Iwo To, formerly known as Iwo Jima, located near 17.0 north latitude and 157.3 east longitude. Vamco was moving northward in open waters at 6 mph and kicking up waves 17 feet high.

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), an instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite, captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Vamco on Aug 17 at 0235 UTC (August 16 at 10:35 p.m. EDT) indicating a well-organized tropical storm.

The U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center, the organization that forecasts for tropical cyclones in the Western Pacific, noted “the system will continue to gradually intensify to typhoon status by [Thursday, August 20] as it tracks over warm water and under low vertical wind shear.”

Satellite imagery from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-12 shows clearly that both former Tropical Storms Claudette and Ana are now disorganized and are moving on.

Ana’s life has been a struggle since its beginnings as tropical depression Two. Late on August 17, it really started to fall apart. Today, August 18, the remnants of Ana are in the form of disorganized showers and thunderstorms that stretch from Haiti, across eastern Cuba to southeastern and central Bahamas. That cluster of storms is moving west between 20-25 mph. The showers and thunderstorms associated with Ana’s remnant will cover all of Cuba, move into south Florida and the Bahamas. There’s still a chance it could all come together again and be reborn as Ana, but it’s less than 30 percent right now.

Claudette made a much more memorable impression, particularly over the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and Mississippi. NOAA’s National Hydrometeorological Prediction Center noted that the precipitation associated with Claudette’s remnants have diminished now that it’s over the southeastern U.S. They note “showers and thunderstorms may develop and produce isolated heavier amounts across the southeastern U.S. [today, August 18].” Surface observations and satellite imagery don’t even detect any surface circulation, so Claudette has truly dissipated.

The latest NOAA’s GOES-12 satellite imagery doesn’t show any circulation from what was once Claudette over Mississippi or Alabama. In fact, it appears that what’s left of her clouds stretch from Mississippi up the Appalachian Mountain range. The image, taken on August 18 at 7:31 a.m. EDT (1131 UTC) was created by the NASA GOES Project at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Claudette didn’t go without leaving a very wet mark, however. From the National Hydrometeorological Prediction Center, here are some rainfall totals through 10 p.m. EDT, August 17