Tropical Storm Bonnie is bringing locally heavy rainfall and dangerous surf conditions, including the threat of dangerous rip currents along the Florida Coast and across the Keys.
As of 8 a.m. Eastern Time Friday, the center of Bonnie was located about 80 miles south-southeast of Miami, or about 75 miles east of Marathon, FL with top winds near 40 miles per hour. Bonnie is currently moving to the west-northwest near 19 miles per hour, and is expected to maintain this general speed and direction over the next couple of days. Bonnie is expected to cross the Florida Keys or the far southern end of the Florida Peninsula later today before moving into the eastern Gulf of Mexico tonight or Saturday morning.
Bonnie is expected to strengthen slightly over the next couple of days, but is currently not expected to become a hurricane. In fact, it is possible that Bonnie could degenerate into an open wave of low pressure on its way into the Gulf of Mexico.
Tropical storm warnings are in effect for the East Coast of Florida from Deerfield Beach southward, the West Coast of Florida from Englewood southward, the Florida Keys (including Florida Bay), and the northwestern Bahamas.
Tropical storm watches are posted for the East Coast of Florida from Deerfield Beach north to Jupiter Inlet, plus Lake Okeechobee. A tropical storm watch is also in effect for the northern Gulf Coast between Destin, Florida, and Morgan City, Louisiana.
A tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere in the warned area within the next 24 to 36 hours; a tropical storm watch means to that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area within the next 48 hours.
Over the weekend, Bonnie is expected to move towards the northern Gulf Coast with a final landfall expected somewhere between the Upper Texas Coast and the Alabama Coast around Sunday, with the most likely area being within the tropical storm watch area.
Elsewhere in the tropics, a broad area of low pressure in the Bay of Campeche is expected to move into northeastern Mexico over the next day or two. Locally heavy rainfall and the threat of flash flooding and mudslides are possible in the mountains of northern Mexico over the weekend. Some additional flooding is also possible in South Texas from locally heavy rainfall and runoff into the Rio Grande.
Weather.com
