The season's second named tropical storm has formed in the Gulf of Mexico Monday evening, just a few hundred miles south of Houston, Texas. The forecast for Bill is for it to briefly strengthen as it moves toward the coast of Texas midday Tuesday. A large and unusually strong ridge of high pressure over the Southeast US will keep Tropical Storm Bill from having any influence on the weather in Florida whatsoever. Confidence is high that the storm will be pulled northwestward, and eventually northward, by a developing trough of low pressure over the Central U.S. by midweek. Heavy rain and possible inland flooding will likely be Bill's greatest concerns, as the forecast track takes the associated tropical moisture from the system over much of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas where flooding has been an ongoing problem for many weeks already this spring. The ridge of high pressure over the Southeast is forecast to weaken some by week's end, thereby allowing typical afternoon showers and thunderstorms to become more numerous across the State of Florida starting Thursday. Until then, much of the state will remain hot and dry, with daytime temperatures running approximately five degrees above normal with little or no rain. The latest maps and information on Tropical Storm Bill can be viewed below.

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