The next hurricane of the season – Francine – appears to be forming in the Gulf of Mexico, according to meteorologists

A tropical disturbance in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico could become the next hurricane of the season, the National Hurricane Center said early Monday. It would be named Francine and would end a brief lull experienced by hurricane-prone regions.

The hurricane center said the system is expected to become a tropical storm on Monday and a hurricane on Wednesday before making landfall on the northwestern Gulf Coast of the United States. It brings with it an “increasing risk of life-threatening storm surges and hurricane-force winds along the coast of Louisiana and northern Texas.”

According to meteorologists, rainfall of between 10 and 20 centimeters is expected in many areas, and even up to 30 centimeters in some places.

Early Monday, tropical storm-force winds extended up to 300 kilometers from the center of the system.

The center was located about 295 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande and about 535 miles south of Cameron, Louisiana. It crept north-northwest at 5 mph.

The disturbance had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, well above the 39 mph needed to officially be designated a tropical storm. But, explains David Parkinson, senior weather and climate producer at CBS, its center was not yet clearly defined enough to receive that classification.

A tropical storm warning was issued for Barra del Tordo, Mexico, to the mouth of the Rio Grande and from there to Port Mansfield, Texas.

The disturbance follows an unusually quiet August and early September in the Atlantic hurricane season, which featured five named storms.

Experts had predicted one of the busiest Atlantic seasons on record, and, as The Associated Press notes, researchers at Colorado State University said last week that they still expect an above-average season overall.