Scott Withers is part of the NEXT Weather team as the weekend morning meteorologist for CBS News Miami.
An area of low pressure being monitored in the western Gulf developed into a tropical depression, which forecasters have now said to have strengthened into Tropical Storm Barry.
The National Hurricane Center upgraded the tropical system, first forming as Tropical Depression 2, into a tropical storm at 11 a.m. Sunday Eastern Time. After reaching tropical storm status, it became the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season after Tropical Storm Andrea.
The NHC started issuing advisories on Tropical Depression 2 at 5 p.m. ET Saturday. As Air Force Reserve Reconnaissance aircraft continue to investigate the storm, they find tropical storm-force winds despite the storm nearing the coastline.
As of the NHC's 4 p.m. update, Barry was located about 35 miles east-northeast of Tuxpan, Mexico, and about 95 miles southeast of Tampico, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and was moving northwest at 9 mph.
Satellite images show that the storm should weaken as it nears the coast sometime overnight Sunday or early Monday. Even though the storm will weaken as it approaches land, it will still bring tropical storm conditions near the coast throughout Monday.
Barry is expected to strengthen slightly before it reaches the coast of southeastern Mexico, before rapidly weakening as it moves inland.
Even though the storm will weaken as it approaches land, it will still bring tropical storm conditions near the coast throughout Monday. Forecasters, who issued a tropical storm warning, said the storm could dump three to six inches of rain with an isolated maximum total of 10 inches across Veracruz, San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas through Monday.
Once the storm makes landfall, it will bring heavy rain and the threat of flooding and mudslides inland of where the storm makes landfall. The final position estimate of Barry is Monday afternoon, with the storm is forecast to dissipate over Mexico well south of Brownsville, Texas. Even though the storm will have dissipated, it will continue to bring heavy rain to the area, leading to more flooding.
More locally, the NHC is also monitoring the potential for a low-pressure system to develop in the Gulf off the coast of Central and North Florida next weekend.
Meanwhile, on Mexico's southwestern coast, Tropical Storm Flossie formed on Sunday, located about 225 miles south of Acapulco and moving west at 9 mph with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. According to forecasters, Flossie is expected to strengthen into a hurricane on Monday or Tuesday but remain in the open waters just west of Mexico.