HOUSTON—A tropical system in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico was expected to strengthen this week into a tropical storm and dump heavy rains onto Mexico and Texas before reaching the United States as a potential hurricane, the National Weather Service said Sunday.
The system, about 340 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande, had maximum 50 mph wind speeds on Sunday and was forecast to drift slowly northwestward. Forecasters said it was too early to pinpoint the exact track of the storm and its potential impacts but warned that the upper Texas and Louisiana coastlines could see damaging winds and storm surges beginning Tuesday evening.
