Thursday's tropical disturbance, now called "Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine," is currently 140 miles southeast of Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, moving northwestward toward the northeastern Bahamas at 6 mph.
A tropical storm watch is in currently effect for the Jupiter Inlet to the Flagler-Volusia county line, which means tropical storm conditions are possible there within 48 hours.
NWS expects the system to pick up speed as it moves through the weekend.
It's anticipated to move across the central and northwestern Bahamas Friday, and along or over the east coast of Florida through Saturday and Saturday night. As a result, the Tampa Bay area can expect periodic heavy rain this weekend.
Here are the 5 AM Friday, September 13 Key Messages for Potential Tropical Cyclone #Nine. The Tropical Storm Watch for the east-central coast of Florida now extends from Jupiter Inlet to the Flagler-Volusia County Line. https://t.co/57Tck7DFVc pic.twitter.com/07r8XkkUn8
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 13, 2019
A tropical storm warning is currently in effect for the northwestern Bahamas, excluding Andros Island, as tropical storm conditions are expected there within 36 hours.
Fortunately, the system is not expected to product significant storm surges in the northwestern Bahamas, where Hurricane Dorian destroyed thousands of structures and killed at least 50 people.
The system will be named Humberto if it reaches tropical storm strength, as the NHS predicts it will likely do by Saturday. An Air Force reconnaissance plane is en route to the storm to investigate.
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This article appears in Sep 12-19, 2019.