Tropical Storm Watch Issued For Parts Of Florida

MIAMI, FL — A tropical storm watch was issued for parts of the east coast of Florida late Thursday night as a tropical storm warning remained in effect for storm-ravaged areas of the northwestern Bahamas. Florida could be affected this weekend.

Weather officials are calling the system Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine, which now appears to be heading toward Central Florida. The storm watch was issued for Jupiter Inlet to the Volusia-Brevard County line.

"The disturbance is moving northwestward at about 3 mph ... and this general motion is expected to continue with an increase in forward speed through the weekend," the National Hurricane Center early Friday morning. "On the forecast track, the system is anticipated to move across the central and northwestern Bahamas today, and along or over the east coast of Florida on Saturday."

Weather officials sent up a U.S. Air Force Reserve aircraft Thursday afternoon to investigate the system, which was gradually becoming better organized. See also Dorian May Be Gone But 2019 Hurricane Season Just Reaches Peak and Florida Sending 10 Truckloads Of Stockpiled Water To Bahamas

Senior Meteorologist Robert Molleda with the National Weather Service in Miami cautioned earlier that the storm was still taking shape and lacked a well-defined circulation center. He said there is a high degree of uncertainty surrounding the system.

"This is not a repeat of Dorian," he said, adding that the reasonable worst case scenario is that the the system will become a tropical storm. "It could bring some gusty winds. It could bring some locally heavy rains."

"The system could bring tropical-storm-force winds and rainfall to portions of the Florida east coast over the weekend," the National Hurricane Center said. "Residents there should monitor the progress of this system."

The system is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 2 to 4 inches along the U.S. southeast coast from central Florida through southeastern Georgia and 3 to 5 inches in the Bahamas with isolated maximum amounts of around 8 inches.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the northwestern Bahamas, excluding Andros Island.

The National Hurricane Center estimated that the system has a 80 percent chance of forming into a tropical depression or tropical storm over the next 48 hours and an 90 percent chance over the next five days.

The system was located about 290 miles southeast of Freeport Grand Bahama Island and about 210 miles southeast of Great Abaco Island with maximum sustained winds of 30 mph. Both areas are still reeling from Dorian.

Weather officials also continue to monitor a tropical wave located several hundred miles west of the Cabo Verde Islands. That system is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms.

"We're not really focused on that one right now," explained meteorologist Heather Nepaul with the National Weather Service in Miami. "It's way too far out to determine if we're going to have any impacts or hazards related to that."

That system could form into a tropical depression by early next week while it moves westward over the tropical Atlantic. The system has a near zero percent change of formation over the next 48 hours but a 40 percent chance over the next five days.