Tropical Depression forms in Gulf, headed toward Tamps

While Hurricane Dorian threatens Florida, Tropical Depression 7 is expected to form and become Tropical Storm Fernand in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, while the National Hurricane Center keeps track of three more tropical waves that could become tropical depressions as well.

The National Weather Service in Brownsville says while the storm is expected to hit central Tamaulipas, it will bring much needed rain to the Rio Grande Valley. There are several other tropical waves being tracked elsewhere in the Atlantic but none of them pose an immediate threat to the USA mainland at this time. The heart of the storm is expected to hit mainland Mexico by Wednesday evening and begin weakening as it moves northwest towards the southern tip of Texas.

Interests elsewhere along the eastern coast of Mexico and the lower Texas coast should monitor the progress of this system. While the storm is not a threat to Florida, it has the attention of those in deep South Texas, where it could bring periods of heavy rain over the next few days. The depression is forecast to become a tropical storm over the next day or so before making landfall along the northern Mexican coast.

Several hundred miles south of Bermuda, meanwhile, "showers and thunderstorms associated with a trough of low pressure, located several hundred miles south of Bermuda were showing some signs of organization", the agency said. It continued to pick up strength as it sat in the Gulf before being upgraded to Tropical Storm Fernand by the NHC Tuesday afternoon. The chance of tropical development over the next 48 hours is 30 percent, the NHC said.

A tropical wave is also forecast to emerge over the far eastern tropical Atlantic between Africa and the Cabo Verde Islands in a couple of days.