Tropical Storm Rafael is expected to dissipate in the Gulf of Mexico before it reaches land but could generate life-threatening rip currents along the Gulf Coast through the weekend, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Sunday.

Hurricane Rafael made landfall in western Cuba on Wednesday and has now moved on to the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Rafael was moving west across the Gulf of Mexico Friday morning as the first major hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico in November for almost 40 years, bringing the threat of life-threatening conditions to the southern United States coastline.