Hurricane and tropical storm warnings were in effect across the Louisiana coastline as Tropical Storm Francine threatened to significantly strengthen Tuesday, a day after it formed in the Gulf of Mexico as the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

The peak of Atlantic hurricane season has arrived, and, right on schedule, a strong tropical storm is bearing down on the Gulf Coast. The National Hurricane Center is calling for Francine to make landfall in Louisiana as a hurricane Wednesday before spreading flooding rains and the chance of tornadoes across the Mississippi Valley and Deep South.