'Andrea' brewing?
Season's first named tropical storm might be taking shape in Gulf.
The drainage system at the Merion Golf Club, the venue for next week's U.S. Open, might get a workout this weekend.
A large area of low pressure over the central Gulf of Mexico, disorganized right now, has a chance of spinning up into the season's first named tropical storm, that would be Andrea.
To qualify, a storm needs to generate sustained winds of at least 39 m.p.h., and the National Hurricane Center says this mass has a 40 percent -- or "medium" -- chance of meeting that requirement in the next two days.
The hurricane center says it expects the atmosphere in the Gulf region to become "a little more conducive" for tropical-storm development over the next couple of days.
The remnants of that system are likely to affect the Philadelphia region during the weekend, as it interacts with an upper-air feature from the Midwest.
The result could be heavy rains Friday and Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, with more showers possilble early next week.
As Accu-Weather Inc. points out, however, widespread flooding would be unliikely. Rainfall totals for the last 60 days are below normal in Philadelphia and in all seven of the neighboring counties on both sides of the river.