Update on tropics and tropical storm in west Pac.

[WXBUFFJIM]

Looking at today's pattern reveals very quiet conditions in this part of the world tropically speaking. However that is not neccessarily the case across the western Pacific in areas just west of the Philippines where a new tropical storm formed there recently.

Maximum sustained winds with tropical storm 7W is near 60 mph with higher gusts. This tropical storm coukd intensify to a typhoon over the next day or two as it tracks north northeast parallel to the west coast of the Philippines. That will still mean flooding rains in the Philippines, especially in upslope areas. This is a system to watch for the next few days as it is the only tropical system on the planet right now.

The reason I say that is because it's very quiet in the eastern Pacific and the Atlantic basin today. There are a few small exceptions though. The first area is near the Bahamas with a mid latitude trough axis moving through with showers and storms. Not a good start to your beach day in parts of the Bahamas. However good news is we won't see tropical development from this.

Likewise further south, a flare up in convection has occurred just east of Honduras. This area could see flooding rain over the next several days. We have had deadly floods in Haiti and in northeast Brazil. Hopefully this event in central America doesn't become deadly. But it's just proof that you don't need a tropical system to cause deadly flooding.

Elsewhere, we got a more active ITCZ in the Atlantic, but no tropical development. Finally the eastern Pacific looks quiet. Other than occasional thunderstorms off the west coast of central America, no tropical development is likely.

As for the surf off southern California, that has subsided today. So anyone who is a diehard surfer is gonna see less wave action off the southern california coast today. 2-4 foot waves seems likely today.

That's the latest at this time.