Tropical Storm Makes Landfall – New Concerns This Week for the Gulf

(KMDL-FM) If you blinked, you might have missed Tropical Storm Barry. The storm system, which first caught the eye of National Hurricane Center forecasters a few days ago, is now onshore in Mexico. It does appear as though Barry, now a tropical depression, will bring heavy rains to coastal Mexico over the next few days.

There had been some concern that remnant moisture from Barry would slide up the Texas coast into Louisiana over the next several days, but forecast models seem to suggest a different scenario.

READ MORE: What Are 2025's Hurricane Names? Here's the List

READ MORE: Trusted Forecaster Revised Hurricane Outlook - Here's Why

Meanwhile, as the calendar is about to flip over into the first day of July, putting one month of Hurricane Season 2025 officially in the books, forecasters are watching another area of concern. This time, that area is much closer to home and is of particular concern to those with interests along the northern Gulf Coast.

As is often the case with tropical weather systems that form very near the coasts of Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, or Florida, this time of year, the "bad news" is the result of some "good news". 

Get our free mobile app

Where is the Next Tropical System Likely to Form?

The good news in this case is a frontal boundary. Cold fronts don't usually make it to the Gulf Coast in July, and when they do, they usually stall out and then drift back to the north as a warm front.

Or, they can linger in the coastal waters where some of their energy can interact with the warm waters beneath the clouds, and that could spin up a tropical depression, tropical storm, or even a hurricane. And that's exactly the scenario that is playing out now in the Gulf off the coast of Florida.

The area of concern extends northward along the Atlantic Coast of Georgia and South Carolina, and to be honest, the threat isn't that prolific, at least right now it's not. As of now, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center are giving this area of disturbed weather a 20% probability to strengthen over the next seven days.

What Affects Will This Storm System Have on Louisiana and Texas?

The information you should take from this report is that there could be a tropical weather system forming in the northern or northeastern Gulf over the July 4th holiday. The impacts, if any, would probably be limited to the southeastern United States and the Florida Gulf Coast. 

If you do have travel plans that take you to the beaches of Lower Alabama or Florida for Independence Day, then you'll want to stay abreast of beach conditions and red flag warnings just in case some of the weather kicked up by this system creates a potential for rip currents along the coast.

Y'all do remember that it was just six months ago we weren't discussing hurricanes or heat waves, right?