As of 8 a.m. EDT Friday, Hermine was weakening as it moved into southern Georgia, with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, the Hurricane Center said.
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As of 5 a.m. ET, Tropical Depression No. 9 remains a depression, however it is looking much better organized and is still expected to become a tropical storm today.
Although the system is expected to hit “somewhere well north of Tampa Bay”, Fleming said people should reduce travel and have a plan in case power outages occur.
At the same time, a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico prompted the National Hurricane Center to issue a hurricane watch for areas of Florida’s Gulf coast stretching from the Anclote River northwest of Tampa to Indian Pass on the Panhandle.
Isolated tornadoes are also possible late tonight into Thursday morning, mainly across central Florida. If it attains hurricane strength before landfall, it would be the first hurricane to hit Florida in 11 years. It was generating a lot of storms, but overall still appeared disorganized and the center was hard to locate.
Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect for parts of the North Carolina Coast, this includes from Cape Lookout to Oregon Inlet, including Pamlico Sound.
The Outer Banks said goodbye to Tropical Depression Eight overnight as forecasters turned their attention to the next storm expected to affect North Carolina and Hampton Roads later this week.
On Thursday, winds in Lake are predicted to reach about 15 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 25 miles per hour, Fleming said. It’s looking more likely that name will be Hermine. It was centered about 35 miles northeast of Valdosta, Georgia, and was moving north-northeast near 14 mph.
He says this system is forecast to turn toward Florida today and bring high winds and heavy rain to the Southeast through Saturday.
Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said a hurricane watch is issued even if the official forecast is only for a tropical storm, if there is enough uncertainty in the future of a system that will be in an environment favorable for development. Hurricane conditions are possible over portions of the hurricane watch area beginning Thursday afternoon. A break in the rain before more showers were expected also brought families out at midday.
Heavy rains of up to 5 inches were expected in some areas.
And the East Coast could get a lot of rain as well. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect for Lester. The briefing is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.at the Alachua County Emergency Operations Center.
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The tropical disturbance will approach NC from the east, leading to storms, gusty winds and high surf along the coast.
