Tropical cyclones have continued to form in the eastern Pacific Ocean at a faster rate than last year. This morning at 8 AM PDT (1500 UTC) a low pressure center south of Mexico was upgraded to a tropical depression (18E).

The TRMM satellite crossed over the forming tropical depression on September 23, 2014 at 0729 UTC (00:20 AM PDT). TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) instrument found that rain was falling at a rate of almost 61 mm (2.4 inches) per hour near the low's center of circulation. Radar reflectivity values of over 51 dBZ were analyzed in some heavy showers by TRMM PR.

This simulated 3-D view (looking westward) shows the locations where precipitation was returning values of at least 15dBZ to the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) instrument.