TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The National Hurricane Center began issuing advisories for Potential Tropical Cyclone 9 on Monday.
The system is expected to become a hurricane on Wednesday as it enters the Gulf of Mexico, according to the NHC’s 11 p.m. update.
A tropical storm watch and a storm surge watch have been issued for parts of Southwest Florida from Bonita Beach to Flamingo, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The system is located about 100 miles southwest of Grand Cayman. It has sustained winds of 35 mph, according to the NHC.
Forecasters expect the storm to intensify into a major hurricane before it makes landfall somewhere along the northeastern Gulf coast on Thursday.
Hurricane watches and tropical storm warnings have also been issued for parts of Mexico and Cuba. A tropical storm watch has been issued for the Dry Tortugas and the Lower Florida Keys south of Seven Mile Bridge.
Over the next several days, heavy rainfall is expected in portions of Central America. Northwestern Caribbean, the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, and western Cuba should closely monitor the system, according to the NHC.
Elsewhere in the tropics, a tropical wave located between western Africa and the Cabo Verde Islands is producing rainfall and thunderstorms as it moves west.
Conditions are favorable for the development of this system, a tropical depression is likely to form within the next couple of days, according to the NHC.
Formation chance in the next two days is 20%, with a 70% chance in the next seven days.