The 2017 hurricane season is already here with the arrival of Tropical Depression One-E which has been forming off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast for the last couple of days, and is now gathering momentum as it heads in a northwesterly direction away from Costa Rica.

If it becomes a tropical storm over the next day or two, as predicted, it will be named Adrian.

The system is now moving north – northwesterly passing far off the coasts of Nicaragua and El Salvador, and is expected to take an easterly turn this weekend to hit land in southern Mexico Sunday, said weather forecasters at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The depression has been responsible for unusually early heavy and prolonged rainfall in many parts of Costa Rica, and if it gathers strength could cause heavy rains in Guatemala and southern Mexico that could put many people at risk for landslides, said Weather Channel Meteorologist Ari Sarsalari.

“This is the earliest tropical cyclone to form in the northeast Pacific in the satellite era. This record was previously held by Alma in 1990,” said Sarsalari.

Forecasts predict an increase in the storm’s intensity as it moves northward, and said, “The storm is expected to curl northward and impact the mountains of Guatemala and southern Mexico late this weekend or early next week, potentially as a hurricane.”