Tropical Storm Marco forms in northwestern Caribbean; TS Laura to avoid most of Florida

The National Hurricane Center upgraded Tropical Depression #14 to Tropical Storm Marco, with winds at 40 MPH.

Marco is 180 miles southeast of Cozumel, Mexico. It has maximum sustained winds of 40 MPH and is moving north-northwest at 13 MPH. The minimum central pressure is 1003 MB.

It now appears that both Marco and Laura could impact Texas next week.

National Hurricane Center said, "we have some hot and mostly dry weather to prepare for whatever comes our way regarding the tropical weather. Isolated strong thunderstorms could pop up during the afternoon both Saturday and Sunday as highs jump into the mid 90s."

This is a highly complex and uncertain situation expected to unfold over the Gulf. Two tropical systems could become nearly simultaneous threats to the U.S. Gulf Coast early next week. They could even get sucked into an odd dance around each other called the "Fujiwhara effect." Or they could fall apart as they soak the Caribbean and Mexico this weekend.

A lot of people are going to be impacted by rainfall and storm surge in the Gulf of Mexico," said National Weather Service Tropical Program Coordinator Joel Cline. "Since you simply don't know you really need to make precautions."

As of 10 p.m. Friday, Laura was located 195 miles east-southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and had maximum sustained winds of around 45 mph. It's moving west-northwest at around 18 mph.

Laura is likely to get tangled up with the Greater Antilles this weekend, which would slow intensification. It is still projected to become at least a category 1 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center.

It is becoming increasingly likely that Laura could impact Louisiana and possibly even Texas late in the week, possibly as a strengthening hurricane.

We are entering peak hurricane season and all indications are that the already record-breaking season could get even busier over the coming weeks. Officially, the Atlantic hurricane season lasts through the end of November.