FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Tropical Storm Emily formed off the coast of Tampa Monday from a weather system that just hours earlier was designated as Tropical Depression Six.
Shortly before 8 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center issued a special advisory indicating that the depression had become a tropical storm west of the Tampa Bay-area.
Emily was located about 45 miles southwest of Tampa and had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, an increase of about 10 mph from two hours earlier when the system had been designated as a tropical depression.
Emily was moving east at about 8 mph.
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from the Anclote River south to Bonita Beach along Florida's west coast.
The storm is not expected to pass directly over South Florida, but it will mean heavy rain for much of the state.
"Emily is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 2 to 4 inches through Monday night along the west coast of Central Florida between the Tampa Bay area and Naples, with isolated amounts up to 8 inches possible. Elsewhere across Central and South Florida, 1 to 2 inches of rain is expected with localized amounts of up to 4 inches possible," forecaster Stacy Stewart said in the latest advisory .
Emily is not expected to strengthen as it makes landfall Monday afternoon and is expected to weaken into a tropical depression again as it moves over the Florida peninsula tonight. After that it will move over the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
