Tropical storm forecast to soon develop in Gulf; what that means for the Grand Strand

South Carolina and the Grand Strand are once again in the path of uncertainty of a tropical system.

While it’s far too early to tell if the Grand Strand will feel any effects from potential tropical cyclone 14, which is projected to become a tropical storm in the coming days, it was in the projected path released by the National Hurricane Center at 5 p.m. ET Saturday.

The system, which at the time of advisory was located 175 miles south of Cozumel, Mexico, was “getting better organized over the northwestern Caribbean Sea” and is expected to become a tropical depression on Sunday and upgrade to a tropical storm later that night, the NHC reported. Warnings and watches were put in effect for portions of western Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula.

The current forecast has the storm reaching the U.S. mainland in western Florida as a tropical storm around 1 p.m. Wednesday. The model has the storm passing through South Carolina sometime between Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon as a tropical storm before weakening back to a depression.

As of the update, the storm was moving northwest at 6 mph with maximum sustained winds at 30 mph.

The NHC had the Grand Strand sitting at a 5-10 percent chance of receiving tropical-storm-force winds from the storm.

David Wetzel: @MYBSports, 843-626-0295

This story was originally published October 6, 2018 at 7:06 PM.