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NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The National Hurricane Center is highlighting an area in the southern Gulf for potential development in the latest 7 day outlook. This is a zone that various models have been putting an area of low pressure in next week. The current 7 day chance is up to 80%.

This wave continues to drift north at the moment and has not showed any signs of development yet. The likely course of this will be in the eastern Gulf towards the Big Bend of Florida or just south. A trough will be moving through the eastern U.S. which will lift this northeast and eventually across Florida into the western Atlantic.

This is not a threat to our area currently, but we will continue to watch it through the week.

Otherwise the big story locally will be the heat through the weekend. An excessive heat warning is in effect for the area on Saturday. Expect temperatures of 99-103 for most of the area Saturday and Sunday. A few spotty storms are possible in the late afternoon but not much.

By Monday we start to see a pattern change with better rain chances popping up and finally more typical summertime numbers.