Watching Fred, Grace, and newly formed Tropical Depression 8

As of 11 p.m. Sunday, Fred remains Tropical Storm strength with 50 mph maximum sustained winds and moving to the NNW at 9 mph.

Fred is expected to stay well offshore of SW Florida but will make landfall in the Florida panhandle tomorrow night.

There are tropical storm warnings for areas across the Florida panhandle as Fred will move into the area within the next 24 hours.

We are expecting the remnants of Fred to still bring gusty rain bands to SW Florida today. Due to the potentially heavy rainfall, we could also see localized flooding along with an isolated tornado.

 

TROPICAL DEPRESSION GRACE

Tropical Depression Grace formed east of the Leeward Islands yesterday and is now moving south of Puerto Rico this morning. As of 11 p.m., Grace packs winds of 35 mph and is moving to the W at 15 mph.

Grace will bring tropical storm conditions to the Antilles this weekend as it moves westward. Just as with Fred, Grace may have to deal with the mountainous terrain of Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and Cuba. Interaction with these islands could significantly weaken or even cause Grace to dissipate, along with center reformations.

There is significant uncertainty in the forecast for Grace due to land interaction with the Greater Antilles. For now, we just need to watch and the best thing to do is to go over your hurricane plan in case you need to take action.

TROPICAL DEPRESSION 8

The National Hurricane Center has now added a third area in the tropics! Tropical Depression 8 has formed just east of Bermuda. This will pose no threat to land, as it swirls around Bermuda and then back to the northeast. Just a fish storm! The next name is Henri.

 

LOCAL FORECAST

Otherwise, Sunday isn’t looking so great weather-wise thanks to Fred. Expect gusty tropical squalls to pinwheel their way across SW Florida today as Fred passes to our west. The only good thing is the extra cloud cover will keep our highs in the mid to upper 80s.

Our weather will quickly turn back to normal on Monday before Grace potentially influences our weather on Wednesday.