Millions of people living on the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida are being urged to prepare as Invest 97L continues to become better organized and will likely become Tropical Storm or Hurricane Helene as the system enters the Gulf of Mexico in the coming days.

The National Hurricane Center gives Invest 97L an 80 percent chance of development in the next 7 days; it could impact Florida.

The area, designated on Sunday as Invest 97L, is continuing to organize in the Caribbean, according to the National Hurricane Center. A tropical depression or tropical storm is expected to form in the next couple of days as the system moves across the northwestern Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico.

Invest 97L could soon develop and approach Florida as a hurricane later this week, according to the National Hurricane Center.As of Monday morning, the NHC is giving the system an 80 percent chance for development in the next two days,

The weather conditions are favorable for Invest 97L, a system in the western Caribbean, to develop more, and it's likely that a tropical depression or storm will form in the next few days as it moves north across the northwestern Caribbean Sea and into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico,

Millions of people living on the Gulf Coast from Florida to Louisiana are being urged to make sure preparations are in place as Invest 97L continues to become better organized and will likely become Tropical Storm or Hurricane Helene in the coming days as the system enters the Gulf of Mexico.