Tropical Storm Paula weakens to remnant low

October 15, 2010



, the eighteenth tropical cyclone of this year's, has weakened into a remnant low near the northern coast of Cuba, the (NHC) says. It had earlier made landfall in western Cuba.

The NHC, the warning center appointed by the to forecast and track tropical cyclones in the, reported at 9 am  (5 am local time) that "Paula has continued to weaken during the past several hours." Six hours later, the center issued its last warnings on the one-time Category Two hurricane, noting that "the center (of Paula) is no longer well-defined". According to the NHC, at 3 pm UTC (11 am EDT), the remnant low of Paula was located around 20 miles north of, in , Cuba.

One to two inches of rain is still expected to fall today through Saturday over central Cuba and the central Bahamas, the NHC added. NHC forecaster said in the center's last warning that Paula's remnants will "continue to move east-southeastward until dissipation in about 12 to 24 hours".

Paula had earlier affected Mexico's and Honduras, where up to eight inches of rain fell and 19 homes were damaged.

Paula was the sixteenth named tropical storm of the year. Earlier this year, hurricane expert Dr. Phil Klotzbach told Wikinews that he expected "this year will have 15 named storms, 8 hurricanes and 4 major hurricanes."