Could Tropical Storm Julia spawn trouble in the Gulf?
Tropical Storm Julia became the second ocean-hopping tropical storm of 2022 over the weekend, making landfall on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast early Sunday as a Category 1 hurricane and heading straight into the eastern Pacific, where it was a tropical storm as of Monday.
But a piece of energy from Julia may need to be watched in the Southern Gulf of Mexico this week.
The National Hurricane Center gave the disturbance only a 10 percent chance of developing into a tropical depression as of Monday.
Forecasters said the disturbance will track westward toward the southwest Gulf over the next day or two. Some slight development will be possible by the middle of the week — if the disturbance stays over water.
No matter what, it will bring the possibility of heavy rain to parts of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala over the next few days.
As for Julia, it was a weak tropical storm hugging the Pacific coast of El Salvador on Monday.
Julia is expected to weaken to a depression today and could dissipate by tonight, the hurricane center said.
However, heavy rain from Julia could bring deadly flash flooding to parts of Central America and southern Mexico over the next few days.