In his announcement Governor Scott also said, “Last night, hurricane and tropical storm watches were issued along Florida’s Gulf Coast from Pasco County to Gulf County”.
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During the past few days, big ocean swells from Hurricane Gaston – now more than 800 miles east of Bermuda and moving further out to sea – and a small tropical depression about 135 miles off the coast of North Carolina have been causing unsafe rip currents and rough surf conditions, prompting the weather service to issue alerts to swimmers. This could be enough for minor areas of coastal flooding especially in flood prone areas like Pawleys Island, Garden City, and Cherry Grove.
National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Hagan said the tropical depression is expected to become a tropical storm later Wednesday and is keeping the atmosphere more moist than usual.
It is expected to move toward the west coast of Florida, prompting the first hurricane watch in four years for that part of the state. As of 5 p.m. EDT, the storm was located about 60 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., with winds of 35 mph. A tropical storm warning for the North Carolina coast was dropped Tuesday night.
A Tropical Storm Warning has been issued from the Anclote River to the Walton/Bay County Line.
FIRST ALERT TROPICAL UPDATE: Tropical Depression #9 in the Gulf of Mexico has been upgraded to Tropical Storm Hermine.
Rain, wind and even an isolated tornado will be possible starting by Thursday afternoon. Since 2010 alone, the number of residents in the state grew by 7.8%.
Officials have closed one national park and parts of a second.
Lonka, of the National Weather Service, said the storm in the Gulf was forecast to move across northern Florida later this week toward the Atlantic.
Southwest Louisiana will not be impacted by this system as we will benefit from drier air being pulled our direction once the system makes landfall and pushes up portions of the east coast over the weekend. Based on the current track and data, it is unlikely we will experience any rain from this system. Highest winds were still 35 miles per hour.
Forecasters say the depression, which formed Sunday, should strengthen and become better organized by this afternoon as it starts moving northeast toward the state.
As of Wednesday morning, Madeline had winds of 80 miles per hour, making it a Category 1 hurricane.
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Florida residents from Tampa to Tallahassee are encouraged to watch the system closely. It’s moving northeast and is not expected to impact the East Coast. More than 15 inches of rain and waves of up to 25 feet are possible on the Big Island, according to forecasts.
