Heavy rain and coastal flooding will be the big impacts in Florida tropical storm

The Florida Gulf Coast is preparing for a tropical storm forecast to make landfall sometime on Thursday, likely north of Tampa Bay. Though the system dubbed Tropical Depression Nine has not strengthened since Monday, gradual intensification is expected over the next day or so as it turns toward Florida.
As of Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center was forecasting Nine to strengthen into a tropical storm before making landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida on Thursday. This means that the storm will have maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph, and slightly higher wind gusts. If the system is upgraded to a tropical storm, it will be named Hermine or Ian.
A tropical storm watch is expected on Tuesday afternoon, 48 hours prior to expected storm conditions.
Though unlikely, it’s still possible that Nine could strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane if the surrounding environment becomes more favorable before Thursday. The forecast models are predicting the system to max out as a strong tropical storm, but hurricane intensity is still very difficult to forecast.
If the storm strengthens to hurricane status, it will be the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in nearly 11 years — since Wilma in 2005.






https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/08/30/heavy-rain-and-coastal-flooding-will-be-the-big-impacts-in-florida-tropical-storm/