Hurricane forecasters have warned that the looming Gulf storm may now reach hurricane strength this week as it nears millions along the US coast. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) predicts that Tropical Storm Isaias could emerge at any moment, giving the storm a 90 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone within the next 48 hours. The storm is just south of Texas in the southwestern corner of the Gulf of America, and new models show Isaias making landfall in the US by Saturday - directly impacting Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. One weather prediction model created using Google's DeepMind AI systems estimated that Isaias has a 57 percent chance of growing into at least a Category 1 hurricane, with winds exceeding 75mph. 

There is even a slim chance that the tropical cyclone could quickly strengthen into a major hurricane, meaning it could explode into at least a Category 3 storm, with devastating winds over 111mph. AccuWeather has warned that hurricane-force winds are expected to hit the US Gulf Coast throughout the weekend, but the impact of Isaias will not stop there.

The weather service has projected widespread downpours and flooding throughout the Gulf and Southeast this weekend, with the highest risk coming in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and the Florida Panhandle. Heavy rain, damaging winds and a risk of isolated tornadoes are also expected to threaten Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and southern Ohio this weekend. As of Tuesday, no hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic this year, and AccuWeather's Lead Hurricane Meteorologist, Alex DaSilva, said the odds are still against Isaias becoming a monster storm.

However, the looming tropical cyclone will likely still be strong enough to overpower shearing winds which have been breaking up the development of other hurricanes throughout the summer. DaSilva said in a statement: 'We expect this mass of showers and thunderstorms to overcome wind shear and evolve into a tropical depression or storm.' 'Due to prevailing steering winds, the most likely path would be to the north-northeast toward the U.S. later this week with landfall along the central Gulf Coast this weekend,' he added.