Tropical Depression Eta, once a very strong hurricane in Central America, is back over open water and trying to get its act back together. The storm is not currently expected to regain hurricane strength, but could cross (or at least flirt with) portions of the Florida peninsula as a relatively disorganized tropical storm with some rain and wind impacts. The current thinking is that there will be heavy rain from Fort Lauderdale southward, and then the system would make a meandering comma-shaped curve toward the Gulf of Mexico before again turning north. The forecast track continues to evolve, and technically the Attractions area is just barely within the cone of uncertainty for the center of the track. The latest runs of some global forecast models want to bring the storm’s path closer to the Florida peninsula as time goes on, but it’s too early for that to be the gospel at this point. Nonetheless, tropical storm watches are already in effect for the southernmost part of the state.
So we’ll ask you once again to keep an eye on the weather over the weekend and into the beginning of the upcoming week. The current forecast for the Attractions Area is generally for a chance of showers and thunderstorms with some winds gusting up to 25-30 miles per hour at times through Tuesday. Keep calm and carry on!