Downpours are expected in Houston on Friday as a tropical disturbance along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico stalls without strengthening.

As of 7 a.m. Thursday, the system was at the far northern portion of the Gulf, just south of the Mississippi Coast, and is expected to move west, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm remains very disorganized with a lower chance of formation.

The National Hurricane Center on Thursday lowered its forecast chances that a system that had moved over Florida the day previous could develop into the season’s next tropical depression or

A sprawling area of storms that still has a chance of becoming a tropical system is churning toward the Gulf Coast and threatens to bring significant rain and flash flooding this week to a large swath of the southeast,

The storm will bring heavy rainfall to the region, and a flood watch was in effect for southeastern Louisiana through Friday night.

The area of low pressure in the Gulf may not become a tropical depression after all. The National Hurricane Center on Thursday lowered the chances of Invest 93L becoming a depression from 40 percent to 30 percent as it tracked westward over the northern Gulf toward Louisiana.

Its chances for tropical development are less, but rainfall flooding is a threat, regardless, in the lower Mississippi Valley. Here's our latest forecast.

The system currently has a 40% chance for tropical development over the next seven days and a 40% chance over the next 48 hours. Tropical storm chances increase: Chances increase for a tropical storm system off the Florida coast Atlantic storm tracker This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm.

The broad area of low pressure along the northern Gulf coast is much less organized on Thursday morning and the odds that the system will develop into a tropica