Washington, Dhu-AlQa'dah 28, 1437, Aug 31, 2016, SPA -- At least three tropical weather systems are expected to hit or come close to the United States this week, one in the Gulf of Mexico, one along the east coast, and at least one on the Pacific island state of Hawaii, forecasters said Wednesday. A tropical-storm warning and a hurricane watch was issued for parts of Florida’s gulf coast because of a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico. Forecasters at the National Weather Service (NWS) said they expect the system to turn to the northeast toward Florida and become a tropical storm sometime Wednesday. Heavy rainfall is expected across much of Florida from the system that was 680 kilometers southwest of Tampa early Wednesday and was moving north near 4 kilometers per hour (kph), the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The system likely will dump around 12.5 centimeters of rain on areas of central and northern Florida as it approaches the state Thursday. Some areas could see more than 35 centimeters of rain. The NWS said the storm in the gulf was forecast to move across northern Florida later this week toward the Atlantic Ocean. However, it is likely to stay south of North Carolina, where a tropical system apparently will spare the eastern state’s Outer Banks islands. The NWS said the tropical depression was 120 kilometers east of Cape Hatteras and was moving to the northeast, away from the state, at about 55 kph. Its highest winds were still at 55 kph, and the storm was expected to dump about 12.5 centimeters of rain on eastern North Carolina. Elsewhere, powerful Hurricane Madeline threatened to pass “dangerously close” to Hawaii. Residents of the state’s Big Island were preparing for what could be the first Pacific hurricane to hit Hawaii since 1992, when Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai Island. Madeline weakened to a category-1 storm Tuesday night, forecasters said. A second Pacific hurricane, named Lester, still is far from Hawaii. --SPA 19:50 LOCAL TIME 16:50 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w