⁍ Tropical Storm Gonzalo, which formed Wednesday, is expected to become the first hurricane of the season on Thursday.

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⁍ Meanwhile, a tropical depression has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm by Friday.

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⁍ Gonzalo marks the earliest that a storm has received a name starting with the letter ‘G’ since the United States began using a named-storm system in 1953.

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– The National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for Barbados, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines as Tropical Storm Gonzalo is expected to strengthen into a hurricane over the next 24 hours and peak at a Category 1, a CNN meteorologist says. A watch is typically issued 48 hours before tropical storm force winds are anticipated to reach the location, according to the NHC. “Out of an abundance of caution, the official forecast continues to show Gonzalo becoming a hurricane in about 24 hours, but the uncertainty in this scenario cannot be stressed enough,” the NHC says. “Small storms are prone to more significant fluctuations in intensity, both up and down.” Meanwhile, a tropical depression has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm by Friday, the NHC says. If this storm does become a tropical storm, it will be named Tropical Storm Hanna, breaking the record for the earliest H-named storm set by Tropical Storm Harvey on August 3, 2005. It would become just another record added to this historic hurricane season. On average, the seventh named storm in a season is on September 16. Tropical Storm Gonzalo sets a record as it churns toward the Caribbean