I just finished looking at the IR-4 ifrared loop and it looks Steve Lyon's eyes could be playing tricks on him. Reasons:

1. Convection is dying on the western band of the system, giving this system the appearance that it is being pulled apart. This is just the way it looks. If convection was to reform here, I'm sure Steve Lyons wouldn't be saying this.

2.NHC said the environment was "favorable" for development. At this time I don't really see any major clouds blowing off to the east of the system.

3.If you look very, very closely into the center, you can see a very small circulation inside of the system. If this feature were to experience a lowering of heights, it would easily pull the convection back into itself, if this is the case.

4.The report came from TWC, okay? I wouldn't rely on anything they say. This area is only in it's developing stages and will likely experience such things.
Time will tell.