HOUSTON — A spot in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico that we've been watching for more than a week has developed into Tropical Storm Milton just hours after forming into Tropical Depression 14.
Editor's note: The above video was published before Tropical Depression 14 became Tropical Storm Milton.
The storm is expected to move to the northeast and affect Florida as a tropical storm or possibly a hurricane.
A cold front in the coming days across Texas will keep the system away from the Houston area.
Below is a rundown of all of the spots we're watching in the Atlantic basin as hurricane season continues.
Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico
Although the tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico is close to us, all the global and hi-res models are in agreement in taking this one east, across the Gulf toward Florida. That puts us on the dry side of the circulation. This will result in warm dry weather through the weekend and into next week for Houston and the upper Texas coast.
Atlantic Ocean
We have two named storms churning in the central Atlantic. Hurricane Kirk is a powerful category 3 hurricane with winds at 125 mph and moving north-northwest at 14 mph. Eventually, Kirk will weaken into a tropical depression as it moves into cooler waters. Remnants of Kirk will likely head into Europe.
Hurricane Leslie is to the southeast of Kirk with maximum sustained winds at 80 mph. Leslie will continue to strengthen. It is possible that Leslie will take a similar fate to Kirk, moving towards the north eventually weakening.
Both Kirk and Leslie will remain over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and not pose a threat to the U.S or Texas.
As of Friday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center has highlighted an area just off the coast of Africa. This area has a 40% chance of development within the next seven days.
As a reminder, hurricane season lasts until November 31. Monitor updated forecasts on the tropics on khou.com and on the KHOU 11 app.