Hurricane center forecasters said the system, designated as Invest 93L, is forecast to continue moving westward and could emerge or redevelop.

There's a chance the storm could form within the next 48 hours. Even if it doesn't, Florida is expecting heavy rain.

A system that has been producing heavy rain and thunderstorms across Florida could become a tropical depression later this week, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The National Hurricane Center is tracking Invest 93L. Could tropical storm Dexter develop? What is the weather forecast for travel? What we know

Forecasts suggested widespread rainfall totals between 2 and 4 inches, with isolated areas seeing as much as 7 inches by Tuesday evening. Authorities emphasized the risk posed by flooding, including rapidly rising waters in streams and dangerous road conditions in both cities and rural areas.

Invest 93L was moving westward across the Florida Panhandle between Tallahassee and Panama City, as of 7 a.m. Wednesday morning. The storm is expected to continue on its track in a westward motion until it makes landfall somewhere along Louisiana's eastern coast around 2 p.m. Thursday.

A weather system moving across Florida wasn’t even a tropical something but it has the potential to develop into a tropical depression as it moves across the Gulf later in the week. National