The Florida Panhandle is likely to see Hurricane Nate this weekend
It has been a devastating 2017 Hurricane season thus far but the latest storm might be a big rainmaker. Tropical Storm Nate, is expected to use the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico to propel it to hurricane status.
For now, Florida’s west coast that took the brunt of Hurricane Irma is likely to be spared any major rain or winds. They tropical storm seems likely to stay far enough out in the Gulf of Mexico to spare the Suncoast residents any serious trouble.
At the moment a hurricane warning has been issued for a stretch of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida border.
According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, they are instructing residents in those areas to brace for possible storm surges amid the expected strengthening of Tropical Storm Nate.
The storm battered Central America with rain this week, killing at least 21 people.
The center says the storm is likely to strengthen Friday over the northwestern Caribbean Sea before a possible near-hurricane-strength hit on the Cancun region at the tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
Forecasters warn that the storm, after crossing open water, could then smash into the northern rim of the U.S. Gulf Coast as a hurricane.
According to reports out of Mexico as well as Central America, this has been a killer with plenty of rain. As pf 8:30 A.M. today the damage caused by Tropical Storm Nate has prompted Costa Rican officials to postpone a World Cup qualifying soccer match between that country and Honduras, which had been scheduled for Friday night.
The president of the Costa Rican Football Federation says the game will now be played Saturday afternoon in San Jose, the Costa Rican capital.
The storm killed at least seven people across Costa Rica.
