The depression is expected to become Tropical Storm Idalia on Sunday. A state of emergency has been declared from Lee to Bay counties.
An ambitious twist of thunderstorms near the Yucatan Channel reached tropical depression status Saturday and is on a path that whips it toward the west coast of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane.
The forecast for Tropical Depression 10, which has the system reaching Florida late Tuesday into Wednesday with 75 mph winds, triggered a state-of-emergency declaration from Gov. Ron DeSantis for 33 counties from Bay County in Florida’s Panhandle to Lee County on the southwest coast.
Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast were not included in the declaration but are expected to get up to 2 inches of rain through Thursday.
As of 5 p.m. Saturday, the depression had sustained winds of 30 mph with higher gusts. It was located about 65 miles northeast of Cozumel, Mexico. A tropical storm with sustained wind speeds of 39 mph is expected to form Sunday. It will be named Idalia.
The forecast track cone reaches from just east of Fort Walton Beach to Bradenton with the center going into Taylor County in the lightly inhabited Big Bend region.
Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Tampa are forecasting 6 inches or more of rain for areas from Chiefland to Punta Gorda through Thursday morning. Fort Myers and Naples could see up to 4 inches.
With areas along the west coast in moderate to extreme drought, meteorologist Austen Flannery at the NWS Tampa office said the rains could be beneficial.
“The main concern right now for the west coast is heavy rainfall,” Flannery said. “The good news is we could handle a good amount of rainfall without a problem.”
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A full moon Wednesday may also exacerbate storm surge with higher-than-normal tides.
