Look Out, America: Tropical Storm Nate Is on the Way

Houston, we’ve got another possible problem.

Tropical Storm Nate is churning in the northwestern Caribbean Sea and is “expected to become a hurricane” before it makes landfall along the northern Gulf Coast on Sunday, according to Dennis Feltgen of the National Hurricane Center.

“However, it is too early to pin down the timing, location, or magnitude of the impacts of wind, storm, surge and rainfall,” Feltgen said in an email.

At the moment Nate does not have Houston, which is still recovering from Hurricane Harvey, in its sights. But the beleaguered city could feel its effects.

And New Orleans, which dodged a big bullet when Harvey veered north and away, is right now in Nate’s path.

“At this stage, residents along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana through the NW Florida Panhandle should monitor the progress of Nat, check their supplies and heed any advice given by local officials,” Feltgen wrote.

Officials in Grand Isle, a Louisiana town that sits on a narrow barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico, has already declared a voluntary evacuation, The New Orleans Advocate reported.

As of 11 a.m. Thursday, according to the latest NHC advisory, Nate was marching northwest at a speed of 9 mph with winds of up to 40 mph as it moved across northeastern Nicaragua and drenching the country with up to 20 inches in rain.

A satellite image shows a tropical depression off the coast of Central America on Oct. 5. NOAA

Costa Rica and Panama are also forecast to get soaked, and the NHC warned “these areas may produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.”

The Mexican government, which is still picking up the pieces from a recent deadly earthquake, has issued a tropical storm warning for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and some nearby islands.

“Strengthening is likely once the center moves over the northwestern Caribbean Sea tonight and Friday,” the NHC advisory warned.