User:Iune/Cristina

Tropical Storm Cristina of 2008 was a moderate tropical storm that never affected land. It was the third tropical depression and tropical storm of the season. It formed on June 27 as a tropical depression and strengthened into a tropical storm the next morning. That night, Cristina reached it's peak and slowly weakened. It was downgraded to a tropical depression on June 30 and was declared a remnant low that night.

Meteorological History
The tropical disturbance that became Tropical Storm Cristina was first noted during the morning of June 26. At that time, the disturbance was 900 miles south-southwest of the tip of the Baja Peninsula. Later that day, the National Hurricane Center stated that slow development of the system was possible as it crawled westward. The next morning, the system was noted to have limited thunderstorm activity. Even so, the storm had gotten better organized and so the system had the possibility to become a tropical depression in the next few days before it moved over an unfavorable environment. Later that day, the NHC said that the disturbance had gotten more organized that morning, but that scatterometer data showed that the system still did not have a well-defined circulation. During the day, the storm continued to get a better circulation and finally that afternoon, the NHC upgraded the system to Tropical Depression Three-E. At that time, the depression was noted to have been struggling to close it's circulation, especially the western side due to it's proximity to the ITCZ. The storm was not expectied to strengthen past 40 miles per hour at that time, becoming a remnant low in 96 hours. That night the system did not change much, but it was noted that Dvorak classifications indicated that the storm was near tropical storm strength and could have become named the next morning. At that time, the storm was far enough away from nearby Tropical Storm Boris so that they would not interact. However, the next morning, the storm still had not changed in intensity even though Dvorak classifications continued to put the depression near tropical storm strength. The storm had only one or so days to strengthen until it traveled over increasingly cooler waters and was expected to become a remnant low in 3 days..

Later that morning, the National Hurricane Center upgraded Tropical Depression Three-E to a tropical storm and named it Cristina due to improved thunderstorm banding. However, the storm was still forecast not to strengthen any more and to become a remnant low in 3 days. That afternoon, Cristina defied forecasters predictions and strengthened to have winds of 45 miles per hour (40 knots) because of -80C cloud tops near the circulation center and due to a Quiksat pass. Cristina continued to slowly intensify that day reaching it's peak intensity of 50 miles per hour (45 knots) that night due to Dvorak estimates of T-3.0 and due to CIMSS microwave imagery showing 60 miles per hour (50 knots).

That peak intensity was short-lived however, as Cristina weakened through the night. The morning after Cristina reached it's peak, it only had a small patch of deep convection left. As Cristina was approaching cold water temperatures soon, it was expected to weaken into a remnant low in 36 hours. Later that same morning, Cristina weakened slightly more as was at weak tropical storm strength. At that time, Dvorak estimates put Cristina at tropical depression strength but since there was a area of strong thunderstorm activity forming near the center, it was kept at tropical depression strength. During the afternoon, Cristina had a exposed low-level-center (LLC), but as before the deep convection redeveloped near the center. Late June 29, the previously exposed LLC went under thunderstorm activity as the storm intensified slightly to have winds of 45 miles per hour (40 knots). Early June 30, the cloud pattern associated with the storm became less organized as it experienced wind shear from the outflow of nearby Tropical Storm Boris. Despite this, Cristina was still the same intensity, but was expected to slowly weaken due to shear and colder waters. Six hours later, Cristina was downgraded to a tropical depression as it's LLC was partly exposed and the thunderstorm activity was displaced to the southwest of the center of circulation. The storm was now expected to become a remnant low within 24 hours. By the early afternoon, all of the thunderstorm activity had dissipated and Cristina was a "skeleton swirl of low-level-clouds" At this time, Cristina was expected to become a remnant low that evening. That prediction came true and Cristina was declared an remnant low that evening. The remnant low was expected to dissipate in the next few days.

Impact, Records, and Naming
As Cristina never affected land and remained over open waters, there was no damages or deaths associated with the storm. When Tropical Depression 3-E was upgraded to Tropical Storm Cristina on June 28, it marked the fifth time the name Cristina was used to name a tropical cyclone. It was used in 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008.