A tropical depression was intensifying along the US Gulf coast on Monday, with the National Hurricane Center anticipating its upgrade to tropical storm status later that day. The system was positioned approximately 120 miles south of Panama City, Florida, and 215 miles southeast of Mobile, Alabama, at the time of the latest assessment, carrying maximum sustained winds of 35 mph.
The NHC established a storm surge watch extending from the Alabama-Florida border westward to the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana. A separate tropical storm watch was issued from the Mississippi-Alabama border to the line between Louisiana’s Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes. According to the center’s projections, the depression would move near or along the northern Gulf coast over the following several days. The storm surge watch indicated potential for life-threatening coastal flooding from rising water driven inland from the shoreline within 48 hours. When combined with high tide conditions, water levels were expected to rise 2 to 4 feet from the Mississippi River mouth to the Alabama-Florida border, with 1 to 3 feet of surge possible across portions of coastal Louisiana and Florida, including Lake Pontchartrain.
Rainfall expectations called for widespread accumulations of 2 to 4 inches extending from western Florida to the middle Texas coast through Friday, with isolated areas potentially receiving up to 8 inches. The NHC cautioned that heavy rainfall could produce flash flooding in some locations, and an isolated tornado or two remained possible across Florida’s Big Bend region.
Separately, Tropical Storm Fausto continued strengthening over the eastern Pacific Ocean. With maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and movement at approximately 13 mph toward the west-northwest, the system was forecast to attain hurricane status later Monday. Although no coastal watches or warnings were in effect for Fausto, the NHC projected that swells generated by the storm would reach the west coast of the Baja California Peninsula on Wednesday and persist for several days, potentially creating life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.