At 7:00 AM CDT, the apparent center of a weather disturbance expected to become a tropical depression or storm today was located at 27.6 N 88.5 W, moving west at 5 MPH. Maximum sustained winds were 35 MPH.
Hurricane Hunter aircraft are flying in the area this morning. Currently there are two areas of tighter circulation within the broader rotation. The circulation south of the mouth of the Mississippi River nearer the greater thunderstorm coverage is expected to become the stronger of the two. A slow west drift is forecast today followed by a turn to the west northwest tomorrow and a more northwest track by Saturday into the central Louisiana coast. The next name in line is Barry and this system if forecast to become a hurricane by late Friday night before landfall. JSC is currently outside the NHC cone for the probable path but storm forecasts very early in the development stage are typically larger than average so JSC still needs to monitor this developing storm for possible changes in storm track.
The next advisory will be issued later this morning.
Tropical Weather Info from National Hurricane Center: