ORLANDO, Fla. _ Tropical Storm Karen dissipated into a tropical depression and then just a surface trough on Friday, while Hurricane Lorenzo fell from a massive Category 4 hurricane with 145 mph winds back down to Category 3, according to the National Hurricane Center's 5 p.m. EDT update.
Karen still has maximum sustained winds of 35 mph but is expected to lose more steam over the next 12 hours and completely disintegrate, the NHC said.
As a tropical cyclone, Karen's unusual path was projected to head northeast until early Saturday morning, when it was expected to turn west and toward Florida. While the system will still head west, it should have no effect on the Sunshine State, the NHC said.
"Increasingly hostile upper-level winds should then prevent the cyclone from reorganizing and it is forecast to dissipate in about four days," said NHC hurricane specialist David Zelinsky.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Hurricane Lorenzo lost some strength but remains powerful with sustained winds to 125 mph, the NHC said in its 5 p.m. update. Lorenzo is a very large storm with hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 45 miles from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extending up to 265 miles.
Lorenzo is so strong that it is sending powerful waves from the mid-Atlantic all the way to Florida.
Lorenzo is moving at 12 mph north-northwest but is expected to lose strength as it moves northeast and toward the direction of Europe over the next few days.
"Gradual weakening is then anticipated through early next week due to a modest increase in shear and a decrease in available ocean heat content," Zelinsky said.
