Strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours, and the depression is expected to become a tropical storm later today, and could be near hurricane strength by the time landfall occurs.
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The depression is centered about 415 miles west southwest of Tampa.
Tropical Storm Hermine strengthens in the Gulf of Mexico as satellites watch from space.
Eric Blake of the National Hurricane Center in Miami says the storm will likely dump around 5 inches of rain on areas of central and north Florida as it approaches the state Thursday.
A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Marineland Florida to Altamaha Sound Georgia.
A hurricane watch is in effect for Anclote River to Indian Pass. The National Hurricane Center has named it Tropical Storm Hermine.
The forecast of rough weather prompted Florida Governor Rick Scott to declare an emergency on Wednesday as many school districts along the Gulf Coast canceled after-school activities and ordered students to stay home on Thursday. If the storm intensifies to hurricane strength – which is unlikely but can’t be ruled out – evacuation orders become a possibility.
The storm could drop 1-3 inches of rain over much of the watch area, with some areas possibly getting 5 inches, NHC officials said. Okato Nakamura heads to the beach to surf the swell from Tropical Storm Hermine at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016.
Madeline would be the first hurricane to make landfall on the Big Island of Hawaii since accurate records began in 1949, according to the Weather Underground. Chance of rain is 70 percent with rainfall amounts between three-quarters inch and one inch possible.
The National Weather Service defines a tropical storm as a tropical cyclone in which the maximum sustained surface wind speed (using the US 1-minute average) ranges from 34 kt (39 miles per hour or 63 km/hr) to 63 kt (73 miles per hour or 118 km/hr).
Storm surge: The combination of a risky storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.
In the Tri-State area, forecasters say heavy rain and gusty winds are possible over Labor Day weekend from Hermine.
Coastal surge as high as 6 feet could hit from Gulf to Pasco counties, the hurricane center said.
Officials expected heavy rains of up to 5 inches and winds of up to 45 miles per hour.
This would be the first USA hurricane landfall since Hurricane Arthur in North Carolina’s Outer Banks on July 3, 2014.
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We will try to narrow down the scenarios over the next two days and provide more specifics about what to expect, where and when. But by late Tuesday, many tourists had chose to fearless the weather.
