Tropical Depression Nine is currently west of Key West, Florida.
At this hour, this storm that is starting to affect Florida, has still not yet been named. It is currently “Tropical Depression Nine”. Storm Hunter aircraft and coastal radar will monitor the storm center for organization and it may possibly become a Tropical Storm today.
Out of an abundance of caution, we are mentioning that as the jet stream picks up the storm later today, the northwest to southeast mid level winds will interact with the generally south to north winds around the right front quadrant of the storm itself. This “shear” may cause horizontal rotation within thunderstorms and when the storms lift vertically, the horizontal rotation becomes vertical rotation and forms tornadoes.
The area in Florida that may see the greatest risk of heavy rain, gusty wind and tornado formation would be from Panama City to Marco Island to the west and from the coastal Florida / Georgia line down to around Port St. Lucie to the east. All persons in Florida and southeastern Georgia should be monitoring this storm.