Tropical storm due to form in Gulf of Mexico, adding to extreme weather as north-east and midwest bake
Potential Tropical Cyclone One – a slow churning system of low atmospheric pressure in the Gulf of Mexico – was badgering the Texas coast but had not fully developed, meteorologists said on Wednesday.
The storm, which will be named Tropical Storm Alberto when it forms fully, is set to unleash powerful winds, heavy rain and flood threats across the entire southern US, Mexico and Central America. Storm-force winds, which stretch more than 400 miles (640km) from the storm’s center, are already affecting southern Texas.
As much of the US experiences anomalous weather – intense heat in the north-east and northern midwest, epic rains in Miami, fires in New Mexico and California, a winter storm warning in Montana – the tropical system in the gulf is forecast to bring intense downpours to southern Louisiana and the central and southern areas of Texas.
The National Weather Service warned in an update on Wednesday morning that the gulf system is becoming better defined, the storm activity “remains rather meager” and the atmospheric disturbance “still does not meet the requirements of a tropical cyclone”.
