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Danny has weakened to a Tropical Depression this morning as it noses towards the southern Leeward Islands. Monday’s 8 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center dropped Danny’s maximum sustained winds to 35 mph.

Danny continues to crawl westward at 12 mph. The official forecast from the National Hurricane Center anticipates Danny to continue to weaken further with time, becoming no more than a remnant low as it approaches Haiti later this week.

Regardless of the weakening trend, Danny is still expected to bright bouts of wind driven rain the Leeward Islands through the day.  The NHC’s forecast cone places Danny moving across the Leeward Islands today, putting it just to the south of Puerto Rico by Tuesday morning.

Tropical Storm Warnings are active for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla with landfall expected late Sunday into early Monday.

Tropical Storm Watches are in place for Saba, St. Eustatius, and St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Danny is expected to bring 2-4 inches of rainfall to the Leeward Islands, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico through Tuesday.

The development of Danny has been an interesting one in the Atlantic.  At one point in its history the storm briefly strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane.

The Category 3 strength winds made it the first major hurricane of the 2015 hurricane season.

– NBC2 INTERACTIVE HURRICANE TRACKER

To begin the new work week, Danny is expected to continue moving west-northwest.  Danny will continue to encounter stronger wind shear and drier, more stable air which will help the keep the storm from restrengthening.

A factor to consider in the movement of Tropical Storm Danny and its potential impacts to Florida will be a trough swinging in toward the east coast of the United States. This trough of low pressure is forecast to get closer to the state late in the work week. This set-up is generally helpful to North America in steering tropical systems in the Atlantic away from the east coast of the United States.