Tropical Storm Rina continues its track northward over the open northern Atlantic Wednesday. As of 11 AM AST max sustained winds are at 60 mph as it races northward at 21 mph. The 17th named storm of the season has likely maxed out in intensity as it starts to transition to an extra-tropical low. Convection will decrease over even cooler waters Thursday. Rina will merge with a frontal boundary and lose tropical characteristics during this time.

Elsewhere, there are no areas of interest over the next 5 days. The biggest culprit for lack of tropical features is strong wind shear.  On Wednesday high shear covers the Gulf, southwest Caribbean and much of the Atlantic. There is a small pocket of marginally favorable upper level winds in the northwest Caribbean. The image below is courtesy the University of Wisconsin.

November named storms are less common as the month progresses. Water temperatures are cooling and upper level winds are less conducive for tropical development with fronts on the move.  74 named storms have formed in November since 1850. Here’s a look at the named storm origin points from November 1-30th. The graphic below is courtesy Google Earth.

Rina became the 17th named storm of the active 2017 Atlantic season Monday night. Rina is still a minimal tropical storm at 10 AM AST with 40 mph winds. Despite hostile upper level winds, convection increases on the northeast side of Rina. If this continues, Rina may increase a bit in intensity over the next 24 hours. The disorganized tropical storm will transition to an extra-tropical system by Thursday morning over the cooler north Atlantic. It is no threat to land.

RIna sits over luke warm Atlantic waters Tuesday. It moves into an even cooler environment over the next 48 hours. During this time it will lose tropical characteristics. Beyond Rina, there are no areas of interest for the next 5-7 days+.