Tropical Storm Amanda is spinning in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, but two other areas could also develop as soon as this weekend and could each pose a threat to parts of Mexico and Central America next week.

These systems are kicking off what is expected to be a busy season for the Eastern Pacific Basin.

Amanda was the first

Tropical Storm Amanda became the first storm of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season Wednesday.

But that's the most newsworthy part of Amanda.

It's expected to remain far from land about half way between southern Mexico and Hawaii. It will eventually fizzle due to dry, sinking air by either Sunday or Monday.

Two other systems ahead?

This story doesn't end with Amanda.

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring two other areas much closer to Mexico and Central America, shown by the circles in the map below.

Given plentiful deep, warmer-than-average water in the Eastern Pacific, one or both of these could become tropical storms, and one of those could become the season's first hurricane next week. The second Eastern Pacific storm will be called "Boris," while the third will be named "Cristina."

(MORE: E. Pacific hurricane season could get a boost)

Here's what could happen

Along with the uncertainty as to whether we'll have one or two new storms and how strong each may become is where they may go.

There are three possibilities with these systems next week:

• Stay far enough offshore to only be a high surf, rip current risk for the coast
  
• Track close enough to add a threat of locally heavy bands of rain and wind gusts, but the worst of its impacts remain offshore
  
• Could directly threaten parts of the coast with storm surge, flooding rain and high winds, with some rain and winds spreading inland
  

Given the systems haven't yet formed, this is a very uncertain forecast right now. It's too soon to tell which of these scenarios may unfold.

But even tracks near the coast could open the door for locally flooding rainfall in parts of Mexico and Central America for several days next week, as our rainfall outlook below shows. And you don't need a hurricane, or even a strong tropical storm, to generate heavy rainfall.

Interests in these areas should monitor the forecast closely. Check back with us at weather.com the next several days for updates.

(MORE: Atlantic hurricane season outlook)

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.​