A new system is evolving in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and is likely to become the sixth named storm of the 2024 hurricane season.
Advisories on Potential Tropical Cyclone Six began Sunday afternoon, allowing the National Hurricane Center to issue tropical storm watches along the Mexican coastline.
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The system was still ragged but organized enough, with 50 mph winds, to begin the storm monitoring process.
A Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance flight provided the data needed to begin the advisories, which now will be issued every three hours.
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Likely to mature to a tropical storm Monday, the official forecast calls for peak intensity to reach category 1 with 75 mph winds.
As the system moves north in the next day or two, continued strengthening is expected.
The next name on this season’s list is “Francine.”
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The official forecast takes the system toward the northern Gulf coast with impacts expected for Louisiana and Texas.
Additional watches and warnings for the western Gulf coast are likely in the next 24 hours.
The Texas coastline has already contended with a named storm this season when Beryl made landfall in the Houston/Galveston area July 8th as a category 1 hurricane.
The system was responsible for widespread power outages that lasted for weeks, impacting hundreds of thousands of residents.
Additionally, there are two other areas in the open tropical Atlantic that will be monitored for development this week.
There are no threats to South Florida at this time. The peak of the Atlantic hurricane is Tuesday, September 10th
