Tropical Storm Francine Takes Aim at Louisiana and Texas

Tropical Storm Francine formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, the sixth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season and the first in nearly a month.

On Monday morning, Francine was over 200 miles southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande with maximum wind speeds of 50 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. The storm is expected to become a hurricane before it reaches the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Mexico by the middle of the week, forecasters said.

A tropical storm is upgraded to a hurricane when maximum sustained winds reach 74 m.p.h.

This hurricane season was expected to be busy.

Tuesday marks the statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Forecasters had warned this spring that the season could be much more active than usual, with some saying they expected more than 20 named storms may form before it ends. But before Francine only five other storms had formed so far, and none in the last few weeks.

Alberto, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, made landfall on the northeastern coast of Mexico as a tropical storm on June 20, unleashing heavy rain, flooding and gusty winds. At least four people died in events related to the storm.

Beryl formed a little over a week later, on June 28, and became the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record. It carved a path of destruction through the Caribbean before crossing into the Gulf of Mexico and hitting the Texas coast.