Tropical Storm Elsa is worth monitoring for Florida travelers next week

Each week millions of travelers head to Florida but next week could bring substantial rain and a potential hurricane as Tropical Storm Elsa heads that way.

The National Hurricane Center has noted that the former depression is the newly formed TS Elsa. Elsa becomes the earlier “E” named system in history. The previous earliest storm with an E name was on July 5th last year.

Elsa’s tracking is still a bit away but it does appear that most models have the system tracking westward and then turning north at some point after it makes it into the Caribbean waters. Forecast models, for now, take it up the west coast of Florida as early as Tuesday morning but it should be noted that your plans shouldn’t be canceled just yet.

Meteorologists are advising people to monitor the system for now and they are being cautious to predict any possibility of landfall. Over the weekend, the storm should arrive near Cuba and that could alter the system.

For now, we can expect a lot of rain across Florida regardless of whether it strengthens into a hurricane or moves up the east coast of the state. It is believed the storm will strengthen somewhat before Monday but again, what happens when it hits the Caribbean islands is not known.

If you are traveling to Florida next week, be prepared for the likelihood of rain and wind throughout much of the mid-week. To monitor the storm, follow this link to the National Hurrican Center website. We will, of course, keep you updated here as well should anything change in the coming days.