Tropical Depression 9 of the current hurricane season is expected to intensify to tropical storm strength sometime Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

It has become become better organized through the day and will become Tropical Storm Isaac before reaching hurricane status over the Caribbean by Thursday or Friday.

The long range forecast track will be highly dependent on this system’s interaction with an upper level trough over the US this weekend and next week.

If the trough picks it up, this system could be a problem for Florida or the eastern Gulf of Mexico. However if this system stays far enough south, it could miss the trough and track further west towards the western Gulf of Mexico.

The timeline for both of these scenarios is starting this weekend and into next week, according to Roger Erickson, warning coordination meterologist in Lake Charles.

Further to the east in the tropical Atlantic, there is another low pressure area that has the potential to become a tropical storm in the next couple of days.

However it has a much better chance of being picked up by the trough and should remain a problem for marine interests in the Atlantic Ocean.