After diminishing over Mexico, Agatha may drench South Florida by week’s end

Forecasters expect the diminished tropical depression Agatha — which made landfall in Mexico on Monday as a hurricane — to bring heavy rain as far as South Florida over the next few days.

National Hurricane Center spokesperson Dennis Feltgen said a “large and complex area of low pressure” is forecast to develop near the Yucatan Peninsula and the northwestern Caribbean Sea within a couple of days. Rainfall is expected to spread across western Cuba, South Florida and the Florida Keys by the end of the week, he told USA TODAY. 

That low-pressure area is partially related to Agatha’s remnants from the eastern Pacific, Feltgen said.

“Despite strong upper-level winds over the area, the system could become a tropical depression while it moves northeastward over the northwestern Caribbean Sea and southeastern Gulf of Mexico late this week,” Feltgen said. 

Agatha made landfall Monday afternoon as a strong Category 2 hurricane 5 miles west of Puerto Angel in an area of fishing villages and small beach towns, packing maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.

Southern Mexico’s mountainous terrain quickly slowed Agatha down after landfall, the National Hurricane Center reported Tuesday late morning. Satellite imagery showed Agatha’s was still circulating, but its center had dissipated. 

LANDFALL:Agatha makes landfall in southern Mexico; storm could redevelop in Atlantic

Remnants of the storm, which AccuWeather experts said made history as only the third recorded May hurricane to make landfall over Mexico, were expected to dump heavy rain across the southeastern portion of the country through Tuesday and over the next couple of days, the National Hurricane Center wrote in its final update on the storm.