Surprise -- Isaac is a tropical storm again, for now

Tropical Storm Isaac is forecast to continue to move westward but its future is very uncertain. (National Hurricane Center)

Isaac was still a tropical storm as of Friday night but was losing organization, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Isaac, the ninth named storm of 2018 in the Atlantic, had weakened to a tropical depression on Friday morning while moving westward in the eastern Caribbean.

But the hurricane center said it restrengthened some by the afternoon and gave it its title back.

As of 10 p.m. CDT Friday, Tropical Storm Isaac was located about 215 miles south of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and was moving west at 15 mph.

Isaac's winds were holding at 40 mph, making it a minimal tropical storm.

Isaac is something of a head-scratcher for the hurricane center. Because it is a small storm it is much more susceptible to the environment around it and quicker to react to it.

Forecasters said little change in strength will be possible in the next 36 hours.

Isaac could become a tropical depression again on Sunday and degenerate into a wave on Monday. "However this is an uncertain prediction," the hurricane center said on Friday.

"The reality of the situation is that the long-term future of Isaac is cloudy, and the best advice is just to follow NHC advisories every 6 hours to see if we gain any confidence."

Isaac could bring 2-3 inches of additional rain to parts of the northern Windward and Leeward Islands as well as southeastern Puerto Rico.

Will this be the last we hear of Isaac?

Maybe, but maybe not.

What's left of Isaac should find more favorable conditions once it reaches the western Caribbean. Forecasters said that it appeared that wind shear that had torn the storm nearly apart had already lessened as of Friday.

"Still, this area of the eastern Caribbean isn't known as the graveyard for nothing, and the system might just be too shallow and disorganized to take advantage of the changing environment," the hurricane center said.

Many of the more reliable forecast models show Issac weakening and moving over the western Caribbean as an open wave, the hurricane center said earlier Friday.

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