Strengthening Tropical Storm Emily is continues to move westward through the Caribbean inching closer to the islands of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti where watches and warnings are in effect.
The National Hurricane Center said as of 2 p.m. Emily about 215 miles southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, moving at 12 miles per hour with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour.
That's about 1,200 miles southeast of Miami, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The tropical storm could draw close to South Florida on Saturday morning as a storm but not a hurricane, the paper reported.
The Sun Sentinel said forecasters have said the system could produce stormy conditions at the shoreline. South Florida might start seeing rains and gusty winds on Friday night, the National Weather Service told the paper.
At 2 p.m., the system was about 215 miles southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, moving west at 12 mph with sustained winds of about 45 mph, up from 40 earlier in the day. It was about 1,200 miles southeast of Miami.
Because of Emily's slowdown, it now predicted to draw near South Florida on Saturday morning - still as a storm, not a hurricane.
It is expected to run parallel to the state's coast and be near Central Florida on Saturday afternoon. Forecasters say the system could produce stormy conditions at the shoreline, but for now Orlando and other inland areas are expected to see a hot, relatively dry day on Saturday.
South Florida might start seeing rains and gusty winds on Friday night, the National Weather Service said. How much will depend on how close the system comes, and the forecast remains highly uncertain, meaning it likely will change over the next few days.
If the storm remains offshore, Florida's eastern seaboard would be on its left - or weak -side. The system's tropical force winds for now extend 70 miles from its center.
Most of Florida remains in the cone of error. However, since the previous advisory, the cone has been shifted slightly to the east and now includes southeast Georgia and the South Carolina coast, rather than the Florida Panhandle.
Emily might have slowed down to reorganize itself, the senior hurricane specialist Lixion Avila of the National Hurricane Center said. Just the same, the forecast track has changed little since the previous advisory.
Over the next three days, Emily is expected to move south of Puerto Rico, angle across Hispaniola, nick the eastern edge of Cuba and arrive near the central Bahamas. From there, it still is predicted to parallel Florida's east coast and aim generally toward the Carolinas.
Emily, the fifth named storm of an already fast-paced season, is expected to produce up to 6 inches of rain and a storm surge of up to 2 feet above normal tide levels along its path.
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