Tropical Storm Idalia Heads to Florida

With scientists predicting it could intensify to a hurricane before making landfall in Florida later this week, Tropical Storm Idalia developed on Sunday in the Caribbean, pelting southeast Mexico with wind and rain.

The US National Hurricane Center predicted that the storm, which is not expected to make landfall in Mexico, would continue across the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall in northwest Florida.

Idalia will pose a "increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds along portions of the west coast of Florida and the Florida Panhandle beginning as early as Tuesday," the NHC said.

"There is considerable spread in the model intensity guidance, ranging from minimal to major hurricane status before landfall on the northeast Gulf coast," the NHC added.

At 2100 GMT Sunday, Idalia was swirling in the Caribbean, headed northeast with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour, the NHC said.

In the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, home to Cancun and other coastal tourist resorts, Idalia dumped rain and put a damper on one of the last weekends of summer vacation.

The NHC said that storm surge and hurricane watches have been issued for portions of Florida's coast and that sporadic flash flooding is possible.

In the meanwhile, significant rainfall is predicted for sections of western Cuba and the eastern Yucatan in Mexico.

Last weekend, Hilary, a tropical storm that peaked at a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale of five, made landfall in the Mexican state of Baja California. This event resulted in one fatality and significant infrastructure damage.

Every year, hurricanes strike Mexico's Pacific and Atlantic shores.

Storms are getting stronger as the planet warms due to climate change, according to scientists.