The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm once known as Agatha in the Pacific Ocean will be known as Alex in the Atlantic Ocean basin.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Tropical storm warnings were issued early Friday for much of the Florida peninsula, Cuba and the Bahamas as a system that battered Mexico moves through the Gulf of Mexico, bringing threats of heavy rain and wind for the weekend.in the Pacific Ocean will be known as Alex in the Atlantic Ocean basin.
At 5 a.m., the system was located about 420 miles southwest of Fort Myers and was moving northeast at 6 mph. The warning affects both Florida’s Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast, from just below Tampa Bay and Daytona Beach to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas. Parts of Cuba, including the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana, and Mayabeque, and the northwestern Bahamas are also under a warning with tropical-storm-force conditions expected within 36 hours.. This is an unusually early start to the storm season but not unprecedented for Florida.
“Heavy rains will begin to affect South Florida and the Keys Friday and continue through Saturday,” the Hurricane Center said in an online post. Also predicted is storm surge and flooding, the severity of which depends on the timing of tides.