According to the latest storm news from USA Today, a tropical storm that formed in the Gulf of Mexico on September 9 could strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane on September 11, and head for land on the coast of upper Texas or southwestern Louisiana, USA.
The latest hurricane forecast from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) at 10pm on September 8 stated a 90% chance of tropical storm formation within the next 48 hours.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for South Texas, from Port Mansfield south to the Rio Grande, as of the afternoon of September 8. High winds are expected along the coast as of the evening of September 10. A tropical storm warning is also in effect south along the Mexican coast to Barra del Tordo.
On the night of September 8, the new depression was located about 500 km south-southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande and nearly 900 km south of Cameron, Louisiana. With estimated sustained winds of 80 km/h, it was almost stationary at a speed of only about 8 km/h.
The US National Hurricane Center's storm bulletin notes that the depression is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm on September 9, local time, with tropical storm conditions possible along the northeastern coast of Mexico and the southern tip of Texas.
The storm is expected to become the sixth hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season and will be named Francine.
The low pressure system that has the potential to strengthen into storm No. 6 is one of three low pressure systems that the US National Hurricane Center is monitoring.
Another depression in the central tropical Atlantic is said to have a 60 percent chance of becoming a tropical storm within the next 48 hours. A depression farther east has a 50 percent chance of strengthening over the next week.
The center's latest storm forecast says that when it strengthens into storm number 6, Francine will reach hurricane level 1 on September 11 with winds of up to 130 km/h.
Storm No. 6 is forecast to bring 100-200 mm of rain along the coast and up to 300 mm in some locations in northeastern Mexico, along the Texas and Louisiana coasts, USA until September 12.
The low pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico is forecast to begin moving more rapidly northeastward late on September 10 as it encounters cold air along the Gulf Coast.
The latest storm of the 2024 hurricane season is expected to move offshore along the Texas coast and then potentially make landfall along the Texas or Louisiana coast on September 11, said Donald Jones, a hurricane forecaster at the National Weather Service office in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Forecaster Jones urged Louisiana residents to monitor weather forecasts, noting that there are some signs the storm could even strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane.
Warmer-than-normal water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico could strengthen the latest storm of the 2024 hurricane season .
A forecaster at the National Weather Service's Lake Charles office said the track of the low pressure system that could become a Category 6 storm shifted eastward on September 8 and could move further east.
