Mississippi will take some abuse from a weather system in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend.
Officials with the National Weather Service say the system is expected to become a subtropical or tropical storm later today as it approaches the Louisiana coast.
The main impact for Mississippi will be heavy rain across the southeast and eastern parts of the state, which could result in flash flooding. Gusty winds and rain-soaked soils could also lead to a few downed trees in South Mississippi.
NHC Acting Deputy Director Jamie Rhome said the system is a potential tropical cyclone, which is what a system is called when it hasn’t organized well enough to be a tropical depression or tropical storm but has the potential. There is ill-defined circulation showing on the radar and all weather seems displaced to the east of that, Rhome said.
The system is expected to produce heavy rainfall and considerable urban, small stream, and flash flood varieties. That should begin Friday and continue through the weekend, according to the National Hurricane Center. Flood impacts will spread as far northeast as into the southern Appalachian mountains.
Along the Gulf Coast, tropical storm conditions should begin today.
For more information, visit hurricanes.gov.
