Tropical Depression 2 forms in the Gulf on the first day of 2023 hurricane season

It’s the first day of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season and the National Weather Service will soon advise on Tropical Depression 2.

Hurricane Hunters left Biloxi earlier Thursday afternoon to track and monitor the disturbance in the Gulf.

The storm, also known as TD 2, has maximum winds of 35 mph and is nearly stationary, moving west northwest at 2 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 4 p.m. tropical update.

Tropical Depression 2 is expected to meander south in the Gulf and strengthen into a tropical storm.

Gulf conditions will cause the storm to deteriorate later in the weekend.

Tropical Depression 2 is projected to slowly move south and make landfall as a depression over western Cuba, but heavy rainfall is expected for much of the Florida peninsula through the weekend.

A tropical depression has maximum sustained winds of 38 mph.

The Sun Herald will update this story.