Although parts of the Tampa Bay area are expected to get heavy rain again today, a pair of tropical storms heading westward are still predicted to stay far away from Florida.
Tropical Storm Ernesto brushed past Jamaica's southern coast Sunday night, causing heavy rains but few problems. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami say its path is likely to carry it by Honduras and across the Yucatan Peninsula, into the Gulf of Mexico.
A poorly organized Ernesto started to get its act together Sunday evening and was expected to possibly reach hurricane strength by Wednesday. Moving about 12 mph with sustained winds of about 50 mph, it was forecast to pass north of the coast of Honduras Monday night.
Florida won't be hit with any wind or rain from that storm, said Bay News 9 meteorologist Diane Kacmarik.
"It'll be too far south," she said.
Behind Ernesto is Tropical Depression Florence, but it was weakening as it hovered over the Atlantic Ocean. Florence's top sustained winds slowed to 35 mph by early Monday.
"It may or may not survive, but it's not near any land mass and still predicted to continue westward," Kacmarik said.
A wave of unrelated thunderstorms rolled into the bay area about noon Sunday and was expected to bring heavy rain through Monday, Kacmarik said.
The forecast called for a 60 percent chance of rain.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Loading...