It’s been unusually quiet in the Atlantic Hurricane Basin, and nearly a month has gone by since the last hurricane or tropical storm.

Hurricane Ernesto formed in the Atlantic on August 12, and since then, Saharan Dust as well as wind shear have kept a lid on tropical development.

Until now.

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring a tropical disturbance in the southern Gulf of Mexico, in the Bay of Campeche. This disturbance already has strong winds -- strong enough to be considered a tropical storm -- however, it is missing a closed center of circulation.

Once the National Hurricane Center determines that it has a closed low, the tropical disturbance will become Tropical Storm Francine -- likely sometime today.

Francine is forecast to become a hurricane by Tuesday, and the potential hurricane is forecast to make landfall along the Louisiana coastline by Wednesday afternoon. The animation below shows the hour-by-hour Futurecast Radar associated with potential Hurricane Francine

Track the Tropics using our interactive tracker below.

Where’s This Rain I’ve Been Hearing About?

Late summer through the autumn months are some of the driest here in Metro Atlanta, and this year is no exception.

Less than an inch of rain fell during the entire month of August in Metro Atlanta, and less than an inch of rain has fallen during the first week of September.

The average monthly rainfall in September for Metro Atlanta is 3.82 inches, and the bulk of this rain is due to tropical systems moving through the Southeast.

And that may be what the Metro Atlanta receives later this week!

As future-Hurricane Francine moves inland, its path takes it into the Mississippi River Valley. This will be just far enough west to prevent any tropical-related tornadoes, but it will still bring scattered rain showers to Metro Atlanta Thursday through Saturday.

Below is the Futurecast rainfall totals through Saturday morning -- as much as 2 to 3 inches of rain is possible through North Georgia between Thursday and Saturday.

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