Could have been anything. The sun was going down, as just one possibility.

NRL has just bumped 99 up to 40 knots, and a ship report recently came in at 00Z from a ship located at 32.40N 71.90W with a ENE wind of 45 knots.

99 is clearly a hybrid, and this should be of no surprise to anyone, given its entirely frontal beginnings. For now, the strongest winds are within a belt of tighter pressure gradients owing to the High to its north, and most likely within any thunderstorms within that belt.

With occasional flareups of deeper convection very near or just about over the primary LLC, it is most probable that when the learned folks at NHC say, "AND A TROPICAL OR
SUBTROPICAL CYCLONE COULD FORM AT ANY TIME AS THE SYSTEM MOVES
WEST-NORTHWEST AT ABOUT 10 MPH.," as they have, once again, in the 8PM TWD, they probably mean exactly that.