Hurricane Richard weakens as it goes over Guatemala

Tropical Depression Richard, moving northwest over Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, will disintegrate in the next day or two and probably won’t regain strength in the Gulf of Mexico, according to forecasters.

The system was about 55 miles (89 kilometers) southeast of Ciudad del Carmen at about 4:30 p.m. East Coast time, the National Hurricane Center said. It had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and was moving at 9 mph toward the Bay of Campeche.

“The U.S. interests in the energy infrastructure do not need to worry at all about this storm,” said Jim Rouiller, senior energy meteorologist for Planalytics Inc. in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. “The environmental conditions over the Gulf are hostile. It won’t strengthen, it will die a slow death.”

Richard developed into a tropical storm last week over the western Caribbean before growing into a hurricane and going ashore in Belize over the weekend. At its peak it was a Category 1 hurricane, the weakest on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, according to the hurricane center.