Could tropical depression form this weekend? Forecasters monitoring Gulf of Mexico
An area of low pressure is being watched in the north-central Gulf of Mexico just beyond the southeastern shore of Louisiana, according to forecasters.
If the system develops into a tropical depression it would happen slowly over the next couple of days as it drifts west-southwest toward Texas, according to the National Hurricane Center.
As of 2 p.m. Friday, the system has a 10% chance of developing in the next 48 hours and a 10% chance of developing in the next five days.
The Texas coast should prepare for heavy rain regardless of whether the system becomes a depression, forecasters said.
The next storm to form would be named Danielle.
A tropical wave that rolled off the African coast and was headed toward the eastern Caribbean dissipated Thursday and the Hurricane Center said it didn’t expect any tropical activity for five days.
There have been three named storms this season and forecasters said earlier this week activity could ramp up soon.
“The heart of the season is really usually that Aug. 15, Aug. 20 date to maybe the end of, or at least late October,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said. “So you really have the two months in there where you pick up the majority of your storms.
“Even though we’ve only had three [named storms in 2022], we are sort of on pace. How this season turns out is going to be determined by how many storms we get during the heart of the season.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last week updated predictions for activity this hurricane season.
Experts are now predicting 14 to 20 named storms and six to 10 hurricanes, with three to five of them a Category 3 or higher.
Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.