Skip to content
FILE - This May 21, 2008, file photo shows the main beach at Caladesi Island State Park, a barrier island along the Gulf of Mexico, on Florida's West Coast in Dunedin. Stephen Leatherman, a coastal scientist and professor at Florida International University, has been drafting a list of the best beaches in the U.S., under alias "Dr. Beach" since 1991. For 2021, he has named Caladesi Island State Park the seventh-best beach in the country. (AP Photo/Craig Litten, File)
Craig Litten/AP
FILE – This May 21, 2008, file photo shows the main beach at Caladesi Island State Park, a barrier island along the Gulf of Mexico, on Florida’s West Coast in Dunedin. Stephen Leatherman, a coastal scientist and professor at Florida International University, has been drafting a list of the best beaches in the U.S., under alias “Dr. Beach” since 1991. For 2021, he has named Caladesi Island State Park the seventh-best beach in the country. (AP Photo/Craig Litten, File)
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:

A tropical storm warning was issued Thursday for parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama as a potential tropical cyclone advanced toward the northern Gulf Coast.

The warning extends from Intracoastal City, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida border, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Heavy rainfall and flooding will likely be the most significant hazard, with the storm reaching the coast beginning on Friday, forecasters said.

As of Thursday evening, the storm was located about 475 miles south of Morgan City, Louisiana, with maximum sustained winds of 30 mph.

The potential tropical cyclone is expected to produce total rainfall of 3-6 inches with isolated amounts of 8 inches across the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, according to the forecast.

Rainfall totals of 4-8 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 12 inches (30 centimeters) are possible beginning Friday and continuing through the weekend from the Central Gulf coast northeastward into the Southern Appalachians.

The combination of storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline, the hurricane center said. The water could reach the heights of several feet.

Meteorologists expect the 2021 season to be busy, but not as crazy as the record-breaking 2020 season.