USA Today's latest hurricane report says a weather area is set to strengthen into Tropical Storm Albert. The first tropical storm warning has been issued for the Texas coast, US, warning of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. On the afternoon of June 17, local time, the US National Hurricane Center issued a warning on the possibility of tropical storm No. 1.
The US National Hurricane Center's hurricane warning bulletin said that heavy rain is expected, potentially leading to flooding in the western coastal area of the Gulf of Mexico, with rainfall reaching 380mm.
According to the National Hurricane Center's director, Michael Brennan, heavy rainfall and the threat of flash floods are expected to increase on June 18.
The weather area is likely to strengthen into the No. 1 storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, currently with maximum sustained winds of nearly 64km/h, with strong gusts at 8:00 p.m. on June 17. The weather will strengthen into a typhoon on June 19.
The center's hurricane forecasters say it is one of two separate tropical zones, the other in the Atlantic, which will strengthen this week. These two weather areas, when strengthened, could affect southern areas of the US.
The first storm of this year's Atlantic hurricane season is October.
The weather area in the Gulf of Mexico is forecast to strengthen into a tropical depression, then become a tropical storm right before making landfall along the northern coastal area of the Gulf of Mexico, AccuWeather's latest hurricane forecast said. When the tropical depression's sustained winds reach 63km/h, the system will become a tropical storm Alberto.
The center of the storm is expected to make landfall in Mexico on June 19. However, the US National Hurricane Center warned that heavy rain is expected to spread across parts of the northwest coast of the US Gulf of Mexico in the middle of the week. In addition, a gusty wind warning has been issued for some areas in the Gulf of Mexico.
"Even if the tropical storm does not reach tropical storm status, a deep and strong tropical moisture flow is expected to sweep Mexico, Texas and Louisiana in the middle of the week," explains Dan Pydynowski, senior hurricane forecaster at AccuWeather.
Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore warned that total heavy rains could fall along the coastal areas of Texas and possibly Houston. Flash flooding is possible in parts of Texas, including Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Houston and San Antonio.
Forecasters are also monitoring a tropical depression forming in the Atlantic. The US National Hurricane Center said the system was several hundred kilometers east of the Bahamas on June 17 and was expected to approach the southeastern coast of the US on June 20 or 21.
This appears to be a compact, rapidly moving low pressure area, expected to move west to northeast Florida or possibly as far north as southeast Georgia as of June 20.
Places from Melbourne, Florida to Charleston, South Carolina are expected to see heavy rain due to the storm.
Once storm No. 1 Alberto forms, it will be the start of a severe storm season. Last month, NOAA Director Rick Spinrad said that the Atlantic hurricane season is forming in an unusual way with an 85% chance of this years hurricane season operating above average.
The record for the number of storms in a season is 30, recorded in 2020. A typical Atlantic hurricane season typically has an average of 14 tropical storms, seven of which strengthen into hurricanes, according to weather data spanning from 1991 to 2020.
