The eye is starting to clear out, and mid-morning microwave passes showed a complete eyewall.

Convection is consolidating again, and Bud is more compact than this morning, as it turns out appropriately named, providing an odd counterpart to loosely organized flowering Carlotta.

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The eye did clear out and Bud is really looking better. However SSD T-number at 1800Z was still T4.5. Time's running out for Bud to make it to major hurricane status, but it appears to be very close.

Continues to oscillate a bit around the track path due to the lopsided convection. A recent microwave pass from 1629Z continued to show good organization with a closed eyewall and stronger convection wrapped just a little more than halfway around, and one spiral band immediately connected to the core circulation.