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Tropical Wave To Approach Florida By Labor Day

Florida Public Radio Emergency Network

A tropical wave will move across the Florida peninsula this weekend, enhancing rainfall and potentially washing out holiday plans for many Floridians.

The disturbance could even develop into a tropical storm over the Gulf of Mexico the following week.

The system was located just north of Hispaniola Friday morning, producing a large disorganized area of showers and thunderstorms from Cuba to The Bahamas.

In their 2 p.m. tropical outlook on Friday, the National Hurricane Center placed odds for tropical development at only 10 percent over the next five days.

Upper-level winds were noted to be too strong for development until the middle part of next week, when conditions could become “less hostile” as the wave moves into the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

If the system becomes a tropical depression or storm, it most likely won’t do so until it moves west of Florida.

Regardless of development though, heavy rain will be possible from the weather system across a large portion of Florida.

The storms should be heaviest on Sunday across south and central Florida, spreading into portions of the Panhandle and north Florida on Monday.

Heavy rains will continue across the panhandle through at least Tuesday, as the system continues to drift west.

Jeff Huffman is Chief Meteorologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. In addition to his full-time position at the university's radio and television stations, WUFT-FM/TV and WRUF-TV, the latter of which he co-founded, Huffman also provides weather coverage to public radio stations throughout Florida
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