Re: Florida is in for some wet weather
KeltonKrew, you may want to check airport delays before you leave. Jackson should be on the dry side of it but you never know.<br /><br />TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Tropical Storm Bonnie weakened slightly late Tuesday but its steady progress northward in the Gulf of Mexico prompted a broad swath of northwestern Florida to be placed under a severe weather watch. A hurricane, named Charley, could follow in days.<br /><br />The watch issued by the National Hurricane Center indicated the storm could be felt in the region by Wednesday evening, as Bonnie pushes toward the Florida Panhandle.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Charley neared hurricane strength as it pushed across the Caribbean on a course that could put it off Florida's west coast by Friday, forecasters said.<br /><br />At 11 p.m. EST, Bonnie was moving north at 5 mph, just under 300 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River.<br /><br />Bonnie's sustained winds slowed during the evening from near 50 mph to near 45 mph. Most forecasting models keep the storm below hurricane strength before landfall, which would again weaken it. Tropical storm force winds extended 30 miles from the center.<br /><br />Charley, meanwhile, was speeding across the central Caribbean toward Jamaica and was expected to begin a curving shift to the north Wednesday or Thursday, forecasters said. The storm potentially could arrive off west-central Florida late Friday.<br /><br />At 11 p.m. EDT, Charley was about 300 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, moving west-northwest near 25 mph. A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch were declared in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, and a tropical storm warning was declared in Haiti's southwest peninsula. The storm's center could approach Jamaica by Wednesday morning.<br /><br />Charley had maximum sustained winds near 73 mph. The winds were expected to strengthen over the next day.
