Julia brought heavy rains to much of Central America, causing life-threatening flash floods and deadly mudslides, exacerbating an already devastating rainy season.

Floods, storm surge and the total or partial collapse of houses forced the evacuation of thousands of people.

[5] Due to the threat the developing system posed to land areas in the southern Caribbean, the NHC initiated advisories on it as Potential Tropical Cyclone Thirteen on October 6.

[6] By 00:00 UTC on October 7, the disturbance had attained sufficient circulation and organized convection to be designated as a tropical depression, while located near the coast of Venezuela.

[7] That afternoon, the storm began to gain strength as it moved through the warm southwest Caribbean in an environment with moist air and low wind shear.

[1] The system then gradually weakened to a tropical storm as it moved westward across Nicaragua, while maintaining a well-defined circulation and deep convection persisting near the center.

[8] Late on October 9, Julia, severely weakened, moved off the western coast of Nicaragua and into the East Pacific basin.

At 11:00 UTC on October 10, the center of the storm crossed the coast of El Salvador, near Acajutla, with sustained winds of 40 mph (65 km/h).

[1] As a result of additional rainfall after the storm passed through, at least 54 people died and dozens went missing when mud and debris inundated Las Tejerías, Aragua, on October 8.

[11][12] The center of Julia passed just south of San Andrés Island while it was reaching hurricane strength east of Nicaragua.

[17] On October 8, the Government of El Salvador declared an orange alert for the entire territory due to the approaching storm.

[19] The Government ended up declaring a red alert for civil protection due to the winds throughout the national territory.

[10] On October 5, the precursor tropical wave brought heavy thunderstorms to several southern Windward Islands.