MIAMI _ A tropical disturbance off the coast of Honduras is showing signs or organizing into something more dangerous as it moves north toward the Gulf of Mexico, meteorologists said Saturday.
On Saturday morning, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the system's chances of strengthening into a cyclone in the next two days to 80 percent, compared with Friday's prediction of 40 percent. A cyclone is either a tropical depression or a tropical storm.
Forecasters are 90 percent confident that the system will upgrade into a cyclone in the next five days, likely forming in the northwestern Caribbean Sea or the southern Gulf of Mexico.
It's moving slowly _ about 5 mph _ and is expected to bring "torrential" amounts of rain to parts of Central America, the Yucatan peninsula and western Cuba into next week.
Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at University of Miami's Rosenstiel School, said on Twitter that around Wednesday, the storm would reach somewhere between central Louisiana and the eastern Florida Panhandle.
In October, hurricanes more often form in the Caribbean and head toward Florida and the gulf.
