HURRICANE ELSA

The last few years when October was so slow, an El Niño was underway.

Grace would be the second hurricane of the season, following Hurricane Elsa, which formed in early July. Another hurricane is expected to form later in the week from Tropical Storm Henri near Bermuda.

Fred’s top winds dropped to near 35 mph early Tuesday with higher gusts. It is expected to continue to weaken, becoming a remnant low by Tuesday night.

Fred is expected to regain tropical storm strength Sunday as it nears the western Florida Panhandle, where it could make landfall by Monday night.

Most likely to form a tropical depression is a region of stormy weather over the middle of the Atlantic, which has a 40% chance. It is forecast to move west-northwest across the eastern Caribbean Sea starting Tuesday and into mid-week.

Storm formation during the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season will be higher than previously predicted, according to an update by NOAA scientists.

A new disturbance is in the far east Atlantic Ocean, the National Hurricane Center said.

Hurricane Elsa weakened into a tropical storm overnight and is forecast to make landfall in Florida Wednesday.

The search for victims of the collapse of a Miami-area high-rise condominium reached its 14th day on Wednesday, with the death toll at three dozen, more than 100 people still unaccounted for and authorities sounding more and more grim. Crews on Tuesday dug through pulverized concrete where the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside once stood, filling buckets that were passed down a line to be emptied and then returned. The up-close look at the search, compliments of video released by the Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Department, came as eight more deaths were announced — the most for a single day since the search began.

Local 10 News' Roy Ramos traveled up to Cedar Key, which is near the big bend of the state, located about an hour southwest of Gainesville.

Elsa regained hurricane strength roughly 100 miles from the west coast of Florida, where it is projected to make landfall Wednesday morning.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center has warned of life-threatening storm surges, flooding and isolated tornadoes.

Hurricane Elsa is forecast to track just off off the west coast of Florida during the day on Tuesday, heading for a potential landfall somewhere between Sarasota and the Panhandle, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Miami-Dade County announced Saturday that its drawbridges would remain open through Sunday after Hurricane Elsa weakened back to a tropical storm.

On Friday, July 2, Hurricane Elsa passed the island of Saint Lucia. The hurricane caused no significant damage to the tourism infrastructure

Tropical Storm Elsa was downgraded from hurricane status Saturday and is not expected to strengthen, but much of Florida — except coastal South Florida and the Panhandle, remains in the forecast track.

Tropical storm-force winds could reach NC coast, according to hurricane center forecasters.

The storm is expected to move near Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday and near Jamaica and eastern Cuba on Sunday, according to forecasters.

As Hurricane Elsa continued to move through the Caribbean Sea Saturday toward the island of Hispaniola, which the Dominican Republic and Haiti share, both nations issued red alerts, warning residents to anticipate massive amounts of rains and winds.

Hurricane Elsa continues to fly through the Caribbean on its way to the waters south of Haiti and eastern Cuba.

Hurricane Elsa raced toward Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday, where it threatened to unleash flooding and landslides before taking aim at Cuba and Florida. The Category 1 storm was located about 395 miles (635 kilometers) east-southeast of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic and was moving west-northwest at 29 mph (46 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), with the hurricane expected to become a tropical storm after hitting Cuba, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Hurricane Elsa was moving toward the west-northwest near 30 mph through the eastern Caribbean Friday evening, and the National Hurricane Center’s long-range forecast path still included Florida.

It could affect Surfside, where the deadly condo collapsed.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava was receiving updates Friday evening about Hurricane Elsa in the Caribbean, the search-and-rescue operation at the site of the Surfside building collapse, and the ongoing building inspections.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Hurricane Elsa, which had strengthened Friday afternoon as it continued speeding through the Caribbean, saw its forecast track shift slightly westward in the 5 p.m. EDT advisory, placing most of coastal South Florida — including Surfside, where rescue efforts after the condo collapse are ongoing — outside the National Hurricane Center’s projected potential path. ...

Hurricane Elsa battered the islands of St. Lucia and Barbados on Friday, tearing off rooftops, downing trees and power lines and blocking roads as it moved across the eastern Caribbean with 75 mph winds and heavy rain.

The strong high-pressure system sprawled across the Atlantic is driving Elsa to the west, but its effect will diminish through Saturday.

Follow live as Elsa marks the first hurricane of the Atlantic season

Hurricane Elsa is expected to hit Florida early next week. Officials have begun preparations for potential impact, as teams work at the site looking for the 128 people who remain unaccounted for.

Authorities managing the search under the rubble of the partially collapsed building in Surfside are worried that Hurricane Elsa could bring down the portion of Champlain Towers South Condo that remains standing.

Elsa is the farthest east a hurricane has formed this early in the year in the tropical Atlantic since 1933, says hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

Hurricane force gusts were measured this morning on the island of Barbados as Elsa makes its final approach to the Caribbean Sea, so the storm is officially designated Hurricane Elsa. 2nd is more than a month earlier than the long-term average date the first hurricane forms.

Caribbean Airlines advises that due to Hurricane Elsa, the following flights have been cancelled for July 2, 2021.

Here's the latest forecast track of hurricane Elsa, which could could make landfall in Florida early next week, according to the National Hurricane Center. The map includes the spaghetti models that show the various paths predicted by forecasting models.

Elsa has strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and it's blowing off roofs, snapping trees and destroying crops in the eastern Caribbean, where officials closed schools, businesses and airports under the threat of flash flooding and landslides.