Tropical Storm Warnings Expand Across Florida’s Gulf Coast

Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis announced preparation updates from several government entities from the Florida National Guard to the Department of Health.

Satellite image of Potential Tropical Cyclone Four as it makes it was across Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico at 5:46 p.m. EDT on Aug. 2, 2024 (NOAA/NESDIS/STAR).

Nearly all of Florida’s west coast is under either a Tropical storm watch or warning, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its 5 p.m. EDT advisory. A storm surge watch has also been issued for most of that area.

The NHC upgraded a tropical wave known as Invest 97L to “Potential Tropical Cyclone Four” at 11 a.m. EDT on Aug. 2, as it issued its first advisory. By the NHC’s 5 p.m. advisory, the storm’s forecast journey up the peninsula into the panhandle has been delayed, tropical storm watches and warnings have expanded, and storm surge projections have increased.