(CNN) –The tropical storm became the ninth tropical storm Ida after the hurricane-chasing aircraft encountered tropical storm-powered winds within the storm. The maximum sustained wind of the tropical storm Ida is expected to blow at 40 mph.
The storm is expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico this weekend and soon turn into a hurricane. The National Hurricane Center expects the intensity of a major hurricane (Type 3+) to approach before it threatens the Gulf Coast on Sunday or Monday night.
A Tropical storm warning Cayman Islands and tropical storm monitoring are now in place in some parts of western Cuba.
It will enter the Gulf of Mexico this weekend and it will strengthen. The NHC says the system will turn into a hurricane when it heads for Louisiana Beach or Texas on Saturday morning.
It is too early to know the impact it will have on the United States or where it is landing. But the first NHC forecast Type 2 or 3 storm hit the United States on Sunday.
Although the storm is just now forming, the National Hurricane Center is emphasizing “more confidence than the nature of the moving tropical cyclone that will strengthen in the Gulf this weekend.”
“The NHC intensity forecast sets near the strength of a major hurricane as it approaches the northern Gulf Coast on Sunday,” the center said.