National Hurricane Center forecasters expect Tropical Depression Two to strengthen into Tropical Storm Bertha within 24 hours as it churns over the warm Gulf.
Rain and thunderstorms are set to spread across Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas this workweek, with flooding and flash-flooding risks rising as the system drifts slowly toward Texas.
Forecast models now show lower rainfall totals for Gulf beaches, while Bertha is expected to stay near the shoreline and could weaken before reaching Texas.
A stalled front stretching from the Midwest to the Outer Banks later this week may redirect the heaviest inland rain toward eastern North Carolina, Alabama and Georgia, depending on how it interacts with Bertha.