B. TROPICAL DISTURBANCE SUMMARY:
(1) AN AREA OF CONVECTION HAS PERSISTED NEAR 7.9S 174.3E,
APPROXIMATELY 615 NM NORTH-NORTHWEST OF NADI, FIJI. ANIMATED
MULTISPECTRAL SATELLITE IMAGERY REVEALS GOOD MID-LEVEL TURNING,
HOWEVER, THE LOW-LEVEL STRUCTURE IS BROAD. A 140237Z NOAA-19 89GHZ
IMAGE FURTHER CONFIRMS THIS AND INDICATES SHALLOW BANDING WRAPPING
INTO A WEAKLY DEFINED LOW-LEVEL CIRCULATION CENTER. RECENT ASCAT
IMAGERY SUGGESTS AN ELONGATED CIRCULATION WITH WEAK PERIPHERAL
WINDS. UPPER-LEVEL ANALYSIS INDICATES A FAVORABLE ENVIRONMENT WITH
RADIAL OUTFLOW AND LOW VERTICAL WIND SHEAR. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED
SURFACE WINDS ARE ESTIMATED AT 15 TO 20 KNOTS. MINIMUM SEA LEVEL
PRESSURE IS ESTIMATED TO BE NEAR 1006 MB. THE POTENTIAL FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF A SIGNIFICANT TROPICAL CYCLONE WITHIN THE NEXT 24
HOURS IS LOW.