Tropical Storm Barry is set to wreak havoc on weekend travel - here's what you need to know about flights

• Tropical Storm Barry is heading for the Gulf Coast, and is expected to make landfall as a hurricane on Saturday.
• Air travel is likely to be severely impacted.
• Airlines - including American, JetBlue, Southwest, and United - have issued travel waivers letting some affected passengers change their flights without any fees. Scroll down for details on the waivers, and check back here for updates.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A dangerous storm system in the Gulf of Mexico strengthened on Thursday to become Tropical Storm Barry.

The storm is the second named storm of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, and is expected to make landfall on the Louisiana coast Saturday as a strengthened hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The storm is unusually slow-moving - crawling at just 5 mph as of Thursday afternoon EDT - meaning it has the potential to dump a tremendous amount of rain as it lingers over the same places for extended periods of time.

According to AccuWeather, areas from New Orleans and eastern Louisiana, to parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle are all under threat.

Air travel is expected to be impacted in those areas, though as in many cases of severe weather, effects could ripple nationwide as aircraft are forced to be repositioned or rack up delays due to the storm over the course of a travel day.

So far, American, JetBlue, Southwest, and United have issued travel waivers, allowing those with flights that may be directly impacted to change their itineraries without a fee. However, other airlines are expected to follow.

Scroll down for full details.

If you're traveling this weekend, check this page for updated travel waiver information.