Eta: Tropical Storm Warning effective along parts of SWFL coast

As of the 10 p.m. advisory for Tropical Storm Eta Tuesday, a Tropical Storm Warning is now in effect from Bonita Beach northward to the Suwannee River.

A Storm Surge Watch has been issued for the Florida West Coast from
Bonita Beach to the Steinhatchee River, including Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor.

Eta is now a 65 mph tropical storm and is moving to the north-northeast at 9 mph. The latest forecast cone from the National Hurricane Center now has more of a turn to the east once it moves north of us. It is now expected to make landfall Thursday night or Friday morning near Cedar Key rather than over the Panhandle.

What does this shift mean for the impacts we will see in Southwest Florida? Not much. Our forecast impacts will largely remain the same.

We’ll see a couple more days of fast-moving rain bands from the outer bands of Eta. We should also experience some windy weather with sustained winds between 15 – 30 mph with gusts of up to 45 mph. The strongest of the winds should be located for our northern coastal zones, with lighter winds farther south.

We will likely also experience some heavier rain, particularly for our northern coastal zones. Training cells (where repeated rounds of rain move over the same area) will be the main concern, which could lead to localized flooding. With that Flash Flood Watches are now in effect for Desoto, Charlotte, and Lee Counties. Those zones may see an additional 2″-3″ of rain.

Other smaller threats include the potential for some storm surge and the low-end threat for an isolated tornado with rain bands moving through.

Impacts from Eta will come to an end by Friday, leaving us drier for the weekend!

Elsewhere in the tropics, we continue to track a tropical wave over the Caribbean that has an 80% of becoming a tropical storm or tropical depression over the next 5 days. Tropical Storm Theta also continues to churn over the northeastern Atlantic, but is not a threat to the United States.