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Nassau, Miami, Melbourne, Orlando in Path of Tropical System

By Alex Sosnowski, Senior Expert Meteorologist for AccuWeather.com

AccuWeather.com reports Nassau, Miami, Key West, Orlando, Melbourne and Tampa will be affected by a tropical system in the coming days.

A weak tropical system cruising through waters between the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas this week will soon spread squalls, beneficial rain and stormy conditions to Florida.

The system, currently a tropical wave, was fighting wind shear to the north and the large land mass of Hispaniola at midweek. Continuing wind shear, Cuba and eventually the Florida Peninsula will work to keep the system weak through Friday. However, this is not to say there cannot be locally damaging thunderstorms and torrential rain in some of these same areas.

The system has the potential to bring squalls, or bands and clusters of thunderstorms, sweeping through the Florida Peninsula, the Keys and Bahamas in the coming days. While the storms will bring beneficial rain to many of these places, there can be flooding and damaging wind gusts at the local level.

Where the squalls hit, there can be several inches of rain in an hour's time, along with 50-mph wind g[image: Tropical System]usts (tropical storm force).

The leading edge of the squalls will roll northwestward through the Bahamas tonight, reaching Nassau Thursday, Miami and West Palm Beach Thursday evening, Melbourne and Key West Thursday night, then Orlando, Ft. Myers and Tampa Friday.

The squalls can disrupt outdoor plans, ground and air travel, and will pose dangers to small ocean-going vessels. Waves may become rough and dangerous for bathers at area beaches.

The system is likely to remain relatively weak through its life cycle. However, it will have a couple of windows, barring too much interaction with land, to become a depression or tropical storm.

While there is the risk of a sudden pulse with this system the next few days, it will have to be watched as to how it negotiates the warm waters before and after reaching the Florida Peninsula.

Computer models take the system on a general northwest path over the Florida Peninsula and then the warm western Gulf of Mexico over the next 3 to 5 days.

A broad area of disturbed weather will trail this feature, potentially causing downpours, squalls and stormy conditions from Puerto Rico to Cuba, Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico through next week.

If you have questions or want to speak to a meteorologist, contact:

Roberti@AccuWeather.com