The latest storm news on July 16 from the US National Hurricane Center said that the low pressure area is increasingly likely to strengthen into a tropical depression or tropical storm in the second half of this week.
A high pressure system in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico that is moving slowly westward on July 15 will pave the way for the low pressure in Florida to move westward, according to US weather forecasters.
Jeffrey Lewitski, one of the National Weather Service's top forecasters in Tallahassee, said that as it moves off the west coast of Florida and along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the low pressure system could encounter more favorable conditions to strengthen into a tropical storm by the second half of the week.
The center's typhoon forecasters have raised the likelihood of the depression strengthening into a tropical depression or typhoon to 40%.
Currently, this low pressure has strongly affected Florida's weather as it moved west to northwest through the Gulf of Mexico.
"Some areas will see more rainfall in the next few days, which could lead to localized flooding," the weather service office in Ruskin/Tampa Bay noted.
On the evening of July 14, heavy rains occurred at at at least two locations in the Plant City area, east of Tampa.
A measuring station at the Plant City Police Department recorded 270mm of rain and a measuring station more than 6km southeast of the city recorded 240mm of rain.
The weather agency said most of the rain is expected to fall on Central Florida, north and west of Lake Okeechobee.
The US National Hurricane Center said the system also increased winds in the Gulf of Mexico, increasing the likelihood of major waves in the second half of the week.
If it strengthens into a tropical storm, it will be the fourth storm of the 2025 hurricane season and will be named named Hagster. Typically, the fourth storm of the Atlantic hurricane season typically forms around mid-August.
