Saturday, July 24, 2010

Tropical Storm Bonnie heads toward the Gulf

Tropical Storm Bonnie is moving across extreme south Florida and will move into the eastern Gulf of Mexico during the afternoon.

As of 11 a.m. Eastern Time Friday, the center of Bonnie was located about 30 miles south-southwest of Miami, or about 130 miles southeast of Fort Myers, FL with top winds near 40 miles per hour. Bonnie is currently moving to the west-northwest near 18 miles per hour, and is expected to maintain this general speed and direction over the next couple of days.

Bonnie is expected to strengthen slightly over the next couple of days, but is currently not expected to become a hurricane.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect for the east coast of Florida from Deerfield Beach southward, the West Coast of Florida from Englewood southward, the Florida Keys (including Florida Bay), and the northwestern Bahamas. Tropical storm warnings are now also in effect for the northern Gulf Coast between Destin, Florida, and Morgan City, Louisiana, including Lake Pontchartrain.

Tropical storm watches are posted for the east coast of Florida from Deerfield Beach north to Jupiter Inlet, plus Lake Okeechobee.

A tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere in the warned area within the next 24 to 36 hours; a tropical storm watch means to that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area within the next 48 hours.

On Saturday, Bonnie is expected to move into the northern Gulf with a final landfall expected somewhere between southwestern Louisiana and the Alabama Coast Saturday night.

Elsewhere in the North Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, no further tropical cyclone development is expected during the next 48 hours.

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