It's ba-a-ack! The tropical wave that first showed up late last week seemed to all but vanish over the weekend. However, today, as it passed the western end of Cuba, it began showing signs of life again. In fact, an Air Force reconnaissance plane will check it out tomorrow (Wednesday) to see if there are any signs of organization or strengthening. It's very possible that this wave may be upgraded to a tropical depression as early as tomorrow.
Right now, computer models are projecting that this wave will move into the Gulf by Thursday. Water temperatures are very warm, in the mid 80s, and there isn't much wind shear aloft, all good conditions for development:
At this point, more than a few models grow the system to a weak tropical storm. The next name on the list is Don, by the way. However, no models develop this into a hurricane. If things work out, this could be a good thing for the Houston area because we could see some more widespread rain toward the end of the week and into the weekend. As long as the track of this system, whatever it becomes stays to our south, we'd be in a good position for seeing increased rain chances.
