An area of low pressure located near the Yucatan Peninsula and the northwestern Caribbean Sea is producing clusters of showers and thunderstorms.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has named this system “possible tropical cyclone one”, a procedure that allows it to issue watches, alerts and warnings for a system that has not yet been developed, but that represents a threat of winds with force of tropical storm for inland areas within 48 hours.
Heavy rains are forecast in western Cuba and in the Florida Keys and South Florida.
For Florida, tropical storm watches are now in effect from near Sarasota and Bradenton south to the Keys and back up the Atlantic coast to the Volusia-Brevard county line.
Tropical storm force winds (39 mph or greater) could reach these areas Friday night or Saturday morning and last into Saturday afternoon or evening.
Tropical storm warnings have also been raised in western Cuba, including Havana, for this Friday.
