A tropical disturbance in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico is developing into what could be the season's next hurricane, the National Hurricane Center reported early Monday. If it intensifies, the storm will be named Francine, breaking the recent lull that hurricane-prone regions have enjoyed.



The hurricane center expects the system to reach tropical storm status on Monday and potentially strengthen into a hurricane before making landfall. The most likely impact zone is the northwestern U.S. Gulf Coast, with Louisiana and upper Texas at risk by Wednesday. The storm could bring life-threatening storm surges and hurricane-force winds to these areas.


Forecasters predict the system will bring 4 to 8 inches of rain across many regions, with isolated areas seeing up to a foot of rainfall. Tropical storm-force winds are already extending up to 185 miles from the storm's center as of early Monday.


At that time, the system's center was located approximately 295 miles south-southeast of the Rio Grande's mouth and 535 miles south of Cameron, Louisiana. Moving slowly north-northwest at just 5 mph, it packed maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, surpassing the 39 mph threshold for tropical storm designation. However, as CBS senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson explained, the center was not yet well-defined enough to classify it officially as a tropical storm.


A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect from Barra del Tordo, Mexico, to the mouth of the Rio Grande and from the Rio Grande to Port Mansfield, Texas.


This disturbance follows an unusually quiet August and early September in the Atlantic hurricane season, which has seen five named storms so far. Despite this calm period, experts, including researchers at Colorado State University, still predict an above-normal hurricane season.