Cristina, now a tropical depression, is crawling north towards a Central America landfall and will pose a serious threat of flooding and landslides.

This latest system follows Tropical Storms Amanda and Boris, both of which have since fizzled. These systems are kicking off what is expected to be a busy season for the Eastern Pacific Basin.

Cristina's forecast

Tropical Depression Cristina formed Monday afternoon with its center just off the Pacific coast of Nicaragua.

A tropical storm watch has been issued along parts of the Central American Pacific coast, as you can see in the map below.

A tropical storm watch means tropical storm winds are possible in the warned area. These winds are possible in the warned area along the coast of El Salvador into early Thursday.

Cristina doesn't have much time before the center moves ashore. So, despite being over deep, very warm water with diminished wind shear, it likely won't strengthen before landfall in Guatemala, then will fizzle soon after that by sometime Thursday.

Rainfall threat, regardless

You don't need a strong hurricane to produce heavy rain. The key factors with rainfall are how slow the system moves and whether there is hilly or mountainous terrain that can further lift the moist air.

Check and check on those factors with Cristina.

Over 6 inches of rain could fall in parts of El Salvador, far northwest Nicaragua and possibly parts of southern Guatemala.

This could trigger life-threatening flash flooding and landslides, especially in hilly or mountainous locations near the coast.

(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.​