Tropical Storm Emily (1999)

Tropical Storm Emily was the sixth tropical cyclone and the fifth named storm of the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. Emily rapidly developed from a tropical wave which moved off the coast of Africa in mid August of 1999. On August 24 it was declared the sixth tropical depression of the season and it rapidly became a tropical storm thereafter.

Tropical Storm Emily did traveled roughly north before dissipating on August 28. Dissipation was the result of wind shear from the outflow of Hurricane Cindy and strong upper level winds. The remnants of Emily were quickly absorbed by Hurricane Cindy. Emily remained at least a few hundred miles from the Leeward Islands for its entire duration, and as a result, it did not affect land.

Meteorological history
Emily originated from a cluster of tropical wave that moved off of the African coast in mid August. This cluster also spawned Hurricane Cindy and Dennis a few days prior. The tropical wave broke from the cluster around August 19. Over the next several days, the wave gradually organized as it moved to the west-southwest.

On August 24 at 0600 UTC, the tropical wave was upgraded to Tropical Depression Six. Those advisories were not issued at this time. Later that day at around 1200 UTC the tropical depression was upgraded to a tropical storm; it had received the name Emily. The first advisory was also issued at this point. Advisories had indicated that Tropical Storm Emily was approaching hurricane status, though post analysis revealed that it was only a minimal tropical storm.

Maximum sustained winds were also dropped to the correct level in the following advisories. At 1800 UTC on August 24, Tropical Storm Emily had acquired its peak intensity, maximum sustained winds were at 50 mph and minimum central pressure was at 1004 mbar. After peak intensity it began a steady weakening trend, as wind shear was building and Hurricane Cindy was approaching. By late on August 26, Tropical Storm Emily was maintaining minimal tropical storm status. Tropical Storm Emily was operationally downgraded to a tropical depression at 2100 UTC on August 26 due to very disorganized and sporadic deep convection, it was later discovered that it this action to downgrade Emily was an error.

By August 28 at 1200 UTC it was downgraded to a tropical depression as Hurricane Cindy was causing it to become elongated. At 1800 UTC on August 28, it had become completely absorbed by Hurricane Cindy. Hurricane Cindy was at the time, near peak intensity as a category 4 hurricane.

Impact
Tropical Storm Emily was initially a threat to the northern Leeward Islands as it was predicted to moved to the northwest due to a subtropical ridge and influence of Hurricane Cindy. The National Hurricane Center encouraged residence to watch Tropical Storm Emily if it were to move to the northwest. However, Tropical Storm Emily remained greater than 250 mi from the Leeward Islands. At one point, the National Hurricane Center also predicted that Tropical Storm Emily would become a hurricane. Also there were no tropical storm watches or warnings issued in association with Tropical Storm Emily.

Tropical Storm Emily was absorbed into Hurricane Cindy which was vastly larger. For comparison, the National Hurricane Center stated that Tropical Storm Emily could have fit in the eye of Hurricane Cindy. The possibility for Tropical Storm Emily to be absorbed by Hurricane Cindy was not discussed until late on August 27, prior to this it was predicted to moved away from Hurricane Cindy. Though it became apparent that it was being influenced by Cindy. The last time that happened was when Tropical Storm Karen was absorbed by Hurricane Iris in 1995.

This marked the fourth time that the name Emily had used to name an Atlantic tropical cyclone. There were no reports of damage or fatalities in association with Tropical Storm Emily. Due to lack of impact on land, the name Emily was not retired in the Spring of 2000 and it was reused in 2005. Despite its affect in 2005 the name still wasn't retired, the name Emily remains on the list of name for the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season.