UPDATED: Storm strengthens as it heads toward Gulf

The National Hurricane Center is giving a storm system a 90% chance of development is it heads toward the Gulf of Mexico and possibly toward the Texas or Louisiana coast.
“This system will reach the Gulf of Mexico by Friday night, and could reach the Texas or Louisiana coast by Sunday or Monday,” said Roger Erickson of the Na-tional Weather Service in Lake Charles on Thursday morning. “It has the potential to be a major hurricane (Category 3 or stronger).”
The NHC was expected to begin issuing advisories, possibly as early as Thursday morning.
“Unfortunately, this system is tricky because it has not formed yet, and it could make landfall within 72 to 96 hours,” Erickson said. “There may be limited lead time for people to evacuate. Stay tuned to reliable weather sources, especially the National Hurricane Center and your local National Weather Service offices.”
Showers and thunderstorms continued to show signs of organization in association with a broad area of low pressure located over the west-central Caribbean Sea about 150 miles south-southwest of Jamaica, the NHC said.
“Environmental conditions remain conducive for additional development, and a tropical depression or tropical storm is
expected to form later to-day or tonight while the system moves northwestward over the northwestern Caribbean Sea, reaching the Cayman Islands tonight and western Cuba and the Yucatan Channel Friday and Friday night.”
Given the recent develop-mental trends, the center said, tropical storm warnings for the Cayman Islands and western Cuba could be required, and an Air Force Reserve
reconnaissance aircraft was scheduled to investigate the system Thursday afternoon.
Regardless of development, locally heavy rainfall and flooding are possible over portions of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands Thursday, and will likely spread across Cuba
and the Yucatan Peninsula on Friday.