Downpours may spoil weekend at the beach

The unofficial kickoff to summer could have an unwelcome visitor this weekend.

For folks along the Gulf Coast and in the Southeast, a damp Memorial Day weekend is forecast, thanks to a slowmoving weather system.

There’s a 60% chance the system will become a tropical depression over the eastern or central Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday.

If the depression’s wind speeds reach 39 mph, it would become the season’s first named storm, Alberto.

The hurricane center expected the system, which was east of the Yucatan Peninsula in the Caribbean Sea, to slowly move north into the Gulf of Mexico and approach land by late Saturday.

The projected paths range from Louisiana to the west coast of Florida.

AccuWeather meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said, “Regardless of tropical or non-tropical development, this system will continue to produce heavy rainfall that will lead to flooding over parts of Florida and the Deep South and southeastern U.S. during the next several days.”

Weather.us meteorologist Ryan Maue said to “prepare for a lot of rainfall all along the Gulf Coast beaches this weekend. Friday-Monday will be very wet.” He warned that “a disorganized, slow-moving, weak tropical low depression or low-end storm can cause catastrophic flooding.”

As much as 7 inches of rain is possible in South Florida, where some areas had more than 17 inches of rain last weekend, the National Weather Service said.