Tropics: Karen disintegrates, Lorenzo sailing out to sea

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UPDATE 4:00 p.m.: The National Hurricane Center says Karen has degraded to a surface trough.

Things have turned much quieter in the tropical Atlantic, where only two named storms currently exist, and one of them may dissipate "at any time," according to the National Hurricane Center.

The tropics are still a little active with 2 named storms in the Atlantic. #Karen which is barely a tropical storm and it's forecast to dissipate over the next few days. We also have Category 4 Hurricane #Lorenzo that will stay out at sea. The Gulf remains quiet. #BeOn4 @WWLTV pic.twitter.com/UiMnQYSSpm

— Dave Nussbaum WWL-TV (@Dave_Nussbaum) September 27, 2019  

Karen weakened to a tropical depression this morning, and has little chance of regaining its tropical storm status. In fact, it may not even retain the characteristics of a tropical cyclone for much longer.

"Karen's associated convection is becoming increasingly disorganized," said National Hurricane Center Hurricane Specialist Robbie Berg. "Based on the latest global model guidance, Karen is now forecast to lose organized deep convection and degenerate into a remnant low in 12 hours and then open up into a trough."

The storm is being hit with wind shear of 15-20 knots and forecasters think Karen could be torn apart by it as soon as later today.

Lorenzo, meanwhile, is a major hurricane with top winds of 140 miles per hour, placing it at Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. But it is moving north in the central Atlantic Ocean and will turn to the northeast some time tomorrow. It may pose a threat to parts of the Azores, roughly 950 miles off the coast of Portugal, by Tuesday or Wednesday.