On Saturday morning, Tropical Depression Twenty formed on the Caribbean Sea east of the Yucatan Peninsula, moving slowly west-northwest. Forecasts call for it to become a tropical storm before it makes landfall, and to strengthen again in the Gulf of Mexico before threatening northeastern Mexico and southern Texas as a Category 1 hurricane.

At 1 p.m. Saturday the National Weather Service announced the storm had wind speeds of 35 mph and was on its way to becoming the next named storm of the season. It is forecast to attain tropical storm status sometime this evening and to make landfall tonight or early Sunday on the Yucatan Peninsula, dropping five to 10 inches of rain over Mexico and Belize before entering the Gulf of Mexico.

Once in the Gulf, forecasters expect it to reach Category 1 or 2 hurricane status and threaten northeastern Mexico and southern Texas by Tuesday.

The storm will be named either Stan or Tammy. Another depression, Tropical Depression Nineteen, in the Atlantic, may also atttain tropical storm status around the same time. Update: The tropical storm is now named Stan.

Those of you from Brownsville to Corpus Christi, Texas, and inland toward Laredo, should watch this storm carefully.