The National Hurricane Center is closely monitoring a tropical disturbance moving toward the Gulf of Mexico and Florida's Gulf Coast.
It poses no immediate threat to Louisiana, but much of Florida is in the "cone of uncertainty" for the system, which could strengthen into a tropical depression on Saturday, and a tropical storm on Saturday night.
At 11 a.m. Friday, the system was about 90 miles east-southeast of Camaguey, Cuba and 420 miles southeast of Key West. It was moving west-northwest at 16 mph with maximum sustained winds of 30 mph.
The system is forecast to move over the island country Friday, cross the Straits of Florida on Saturday and be near or over Florida's Gulf Coast by Saturday night.
It's expected to dump 4 to 8 inches of rain across portions of Florida, with some areas seeing isolated amounts of 12 inches, which could cause significant flooding.
Parts of Florida's southwest coast remain under a tropical storm warning. A tropical storm watch is in effect for the Keys and other parts of the Gulf Coast.
"It's unlikely that this potential tropical cyclone will bring any direct impacts to our area with the current forecast being going towards the eastern Gulf and into Florida," said NWS meteorologist Jacob Zeringue. "But of course the forecast should still be monitored very closely in case there are any changes to the forecast. But as of right now, it's unlikely that this system will bring any direct impacts to Louisiana."
"Debby" is the next name on the list of 2024 Atlantic hurricane season storm names.
