The National Hurricane Center is urging Gulf Coast residents to get ready for very heavy rain this weekend. The downpours are expected from a disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico.
"Disorganized showers and thunderstorms continue over the Bay of Campeche and southern Mexico in association with a broad low pressure area," according to the Tropical Weather Outlook.
Forecasters say the low pressure system is expected to get its act together over the next few days.
"This system will move little today and tonight, and little if any development is expected during that time due to interaction with land. However, the broad disturbance should begin to move northward on Thursday, and a tropical depression is likely to form by late Thursday or on Friday when the low moves across the western Gulf of Mexico."
It could strengthen into Tropical Storm Claudette.
"Regardless of development... Heavy rains should also begin to affect portions of the northern Gulf Coast on Friday."
Formation chance through 5 days is high at 90 percent.
WWL TV Meteorologist Payton Malone says, "Keep in mind - there's still uncertainty with the forecast, because it's still a couple of days from organizing, and models do not have a tight center of circulation to latch onto."
He says that current global model runs show the system starting to move north into the central Gulf on Thursday and then into the north/northwest Gulf on Friday.
"They show the system developing and moving inland Saturday somewhere around southeast Texas or southwest Louisiana."
