By Courtney Spamer, Meteorologist
September 11,2014; 8:51PM,EDT
Tropical Storm Odile threatens to trigger more flooding in areas recently affected by Hurricane Norbert.
After developing Wednesday morning, Tropical Storm Odile will continue to meander off the coast of Mexico through Friday before picking up speed and heading northwestward this weekend.
Odile will gain strength during that time, becoming a hurricane by the end of Friday and attaining Category 2 intensity this weekend.
Coming off the heels of Hurricane Norbert, Odile will possess similarities and differences to the most recent hurricane.
Similar to Norbert, Odile will not make landfall on Mexican soil but will still track close enough to impact parts of the coastline and Baja California.
Torrential rain will stream onto the Mexican states of Colima, western Jalisco and southern Nayarit this weekend. From Manzanillo to Puerto Vallarta, coastal cities and the mountains just inland will be targeted by the heavy rain which threatens to trigger flooding and mudslides.
This corridor is especially susceptible to flooding in the wake of Norbert's soaking and with Odile's heavy rain being preceded by late-week downpours.
This animated loop shows a satellite image of Odile spinning off the coast of Mexico. (Provided by NOAA)With the increased strength of the storm, wind speeds will also increase, threatening power outages along the coastline and kicking up dangerous surf.
AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Adam Douty stated that "the worst conditions will remain to the north of Acapulco. However, some locally heavy showers and storms could still move over the city through Saturday as tropical moisture gets pulled into the area."
RELATED:
AccuWeather.com Mexico Weather Homepage
AccuWeather.com's Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center
Current Statistics for Odile
Later in the weekend and through Monday, Odile will sideswipe the southern tip of Baja California, including the resort city of Cabo San Lucas, with flooding rain and damaging winds.
As much as 2-3 inches (50-75 millimeters) of rain could inundate these areas in only a few hours. After the extensive flooding across the Baja earlier in September, it will not take much more to cause additional flooding issues.
In a fashion similar to Norbert, some of Odile's moisture will get drawn up into northern Mexico and contribute to flooding downpours across the Sierra Madre Occidental later this weekend and through early next week.
Such downpours may drift to the city of Hermosillo.
Furthermore, this moisture will likely continue into the Southwestern United States. Parts of Arizona had catastrophic flooding from the moisture supplied by Norbert. The city of Phoenix broke their all-time record for daily rainfall, reaching a total 3.29 inches in one day. Much of this rain fell in only three hours.
Unlike Norbert, Odile will not turn back toward Baja California and diminish offshore. Odile will instead dissipate in the cooler waters well off the coast of Baja California next week.
Meanwhile, Tropical Depression 16-E joined Odile in the eastern Pacific Thursday morning.
On the other side of Mexico, AccuWeather.com Tropical Weather Expert Dan Kottlowski is also concerned that a disturbance in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico may spin up into a tropical depression before it moves into northeastern Mexico with its downpours on Saturday.
AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski contributed to the content of this story.
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