Subtropical Storm Nicole threatens Bahamas, Florida coast

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Subtropical Storm Nicole fashioned within the Atlantic Ocean on Monday, threatening to deliver a chronic interval of hazardous climate to components of the Bahamas and the southeastern United States, but it surely ought to nonetheless be too far off Florida’s coast on Tuesday to have an effect on voting on Election Day.

Nicole could possibly be “potentially making landfall in Florida early on Thursday morning as a strong tropical storm,” hurricane specialist Phillippe Papin informed The Associated Press.

“We won’t really start to see any significant impacts from Nicole until really Tuesday night to Wednesday, so really it shouldn’t have a huge impact on voting operations tomorrow,” Papin stated.

“Unfortunately this is going to be a very large storm, with a very large wind field on the north side. This is going to cause quite substantial surf, potentially dangerous storm surge somewhere along the Florida east coast, and heavy rainfall and probably significant winds over a large area of the eastern Florida peninsula coast,” Papin added.

A tropical storm watch is in impact for the northwestern Bahamas, together with Andros Island, New Providence, Eleuthera, Abacos Islands, Berry Islands, Grand Bahama Island, and Bimini, forecasters stated.

At 5 a.m. Monday, the “sprawling” storm had high winds of 45 mph (75 kmh) and was centered about 555 miles (895 kilometers) east of the northwestern Bahamas, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center stated in an advisory.

“It’s not out of the question for Nicole to reach hurricane strength, especially given how warm the waters are in the vicinity of the Bahamas,” the advisory stated. “It should be stressed, however, that no matter Nicole’s ultimate intensity, the storm’s large size will likely cause significant wind, storm surge, and rainfall impacts over a large portion of the northwestern Bahamas, Florida, and the southeastern coast of the United States during much of the upcoming week.”

Forecasters suggested these dwelling within the central Bahamas, Florida, and alongside the southeastern coast of the United States to watch progress of the storm. It was anticipated to provide heavy rainfall throughout the northwestern Bahamas Tuesday by Thursday, impacting parts of Florida and different areas of the U.S. shoreline mid-to-late week.

Large components of Florida are nonetheless reeling from harmful Hurricane Ian, which slammed into the southwestern portion of the state in Sept. 28 as a powerful Category 4 hurricane and dumped large quantities of rain, inflicting flooding throughout central Florida.

A subtropical storm is a non-frontal low-pressure system that has traits of each tropical and extratropical cyclones. They are inclined to have a bigger wind subject, extending a lot farther from their facilities. Forecasters stated the storm may probably transition right into a tropical system because it continues to develop.

The Atlantic hurricane season started on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30.

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Walker reported from New York City.