Parts Of Florida Under Hurricane Watch!

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches went up in South Florida Wednesday as the season's 11th named tropical storm, Katrina, headed toward the coast.

At 11 a.m., the National Hurricane Center upgraded its earlier tropical storm watch to a warning, and added a hurricane watch from Florida City to Vero Beach.

The area includes the heavily populated cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. The Florida Keys remain under a tropical storm watch.

Katrina became the 11th named tropical storm of the busy 2005 season on Wednesday morning when reconnaissance aircraft reported maximum sustained winds of at least 40 mph inside a tropical depression that had formed Tuesday near the Bahamas.

Forecasters said tropical storm conditions, including sustained winds of at least 39 mph, were possible in South Florida within the next 36 hours. Winds could approach hurricane force at 74 mph as Katrina gains strength over warm water before making landfall.

A tropical storm warning remained in place for the central and northwest Bahamas.

The long-range forecast path shows the system moving over the Bahamas, cutting across southern Florida and re-entering the Gulf of Mexico by the weekend.

However, the erratic nature of tropical systems means their paths often change.

As of 11 a.m. ET Wednesday, the center of Katrina was about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Nassau, the Bahamian capital, or about 230 miles (375 kilometers) east-southeast of the southeast coast of Florida. It was moving northwest at about 8 mph (13 kmh), and was expected to pick up speed as it makes a turn to the northwest later Wednesday, forecasters said. The center of the storm was expected to pass over the Bahamas later Wednesday.

Forecasters said 5 to 10 inches of rain were possible over the Bahamas, with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches possible. Storm surges of 3 to 5 feet also are possible near the center in the areas of onshore winds.

Another storm, Tropical Depression Jose dissipated Tuesday as it moved over the mountains of central Mexico, hours after making landfall as a tropical storm with 50 mph winds. (Full story)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/2...orm/index.html

Damn, i had no clue we were already at our 11th named storm for the season :eek:

Hope everyone in the areas where the watch is in effect is ready in case it does speed up.

Regards,

Lee