June 14, 2014 - Tropical Storm Boris (02E) over Central America

Tropical Storm Boris (02E) over Central America

Tropical Depression 2E strengthened into Tropical Storm Boris briefly on June 3 before making landfall early on June 4 in southern Mexico, then quickly weakened into a depression. Although it was not a strong storm, Boris was a heavy rainmaker for Mexico, dumping over a foot of rain as it swept over the region. The Mexican Weather Service reported that 12.5 inches (318 mm) of rain fell on the city of Tonala on the coast of Chiapas from the storm. A total of 223 homes were reported damaged, and about six people were reported killed by mudslides and downed trees.

On June 3 at 19:15 UTC (3:15 p.m. EDT) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a true-color image of Tropical Storm Boris over Central America. Boris appeared circular in the imagery and its clouds covered southern Mexico and stretched over the border into northern Guatemala. The MODIS image also showed that clouds associated with a low pressure in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, specifically, in the Bay of Campeche, were just to the north of Boris.

At 5 p.m. EDT on June 3 Boris' maximum sustained winds increased to 40 mph (65 km/h) and the storm was named and classified as a tropical storm. Boris made landfall around 06:00 UTC (2 a.m. EDT) today, June 4. By 11 a.m. EDT, Boris had weakened to a tropical depression but was soaking southern Mexico.

The National Hurricane Center issued the final warning on the remnants of Boris on June 4 at 2100 UTC (5 p.m. EDT). At that time, the center of the remnant low pressure area was near 16.5 north latitude and 94.00 west longitude, about 80 miles east of Salina Cruz, Mexico. At that time Boris no longer qualified as a tropical cyclone and was merging with System 90L in the Bay of Campeche.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 6/3/2014
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used:
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC