Upgraded To Hurricane Elsa Friday, All Florida Lies In Path

FLORIDA — Instead of hosting picnics and watching fireworks displays, Floridians will be battening down the hatches after the National Hurricane Center in Miami upgraded Tropical Storm Elsa to a hurricane and placed Florida within her path.

Forecasters announced at 8:30 a.m. Friday that Tropical Storm Elsa had strengthened to become the first hurricane of the season, packing 75 mph sustained winds and dumping up to 15 inches of rain across the Windward and southern Leeward Islands including Barbados.

Hurricane Elsa will continue to move across the eastern Caribbean Sea Friday afternoon and night, heading west-northwest at nearly 29 mph.

If she continues on her current path, the hurricane will begin impacting South Florida by 8 p.m. Sunday with the hurricane's center off the southwest coast of Florida at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Elsa is predicted to continue moving north up the state, reaching Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina by Wednesday morning.

This doesn't bode well for Fourth of July celebrations on Sunday or families planning to spend the holiday weekend at Florida's beaches.

Emergency management officials in Florida have begun distributing sand bags and sending out work crews to clean out stormwater drains and culverts in anticipation of storm surge and flooding.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management said there will be thunderstorms statewide with gusty winds, frequent lightning and heavy downpours.

The hurricane is currently creating a moderate to high risk of rip currents at beaches along Florida's east coast and in the Panhandle.

Swells generated by Elsa will spread westward across the Caribbean Sea during the next few days and are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip currents along both coasts, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Although the hurricane's path isn't set in stone, emergency officials said Hurricane Elsa could bring heavy rains storm surge, isolated tornados and high winds to parts of Florida by Monday.

In its 11 a.m. advisory, the National Hurricane Center said the center of Elsa is now passing near St. Vincent and St. Lucia islands with hurricane conditions throughout the Windward Islands.

Hurricane-force winds currently extend 25 miles from the center and tropical storm-force winds extend up to 140 miles.

Friday morning, the Hewanorra Airport on St. Lucia reported sustained winds of 46 mph and a wind gust of 79 mph.

Hurricane warnings are now in effect for St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the southern portion of Haiti from Port Au Prince to the southern border of the Dominican Republic.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Barbados, Martinique, Dominica, the southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to the border of Haiti, the coast of Haiti north of Port Au Prince, the south coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque to the border of Haiti and Jamaica.

Elsa is forecast to move away from the Windward Islands during the next several hours, passing across the eastern Caribbean Sea and the southern coast of Hispaniola late Saturday. By Sunday, Elsa is forecast to move near Jamaica and portions of eastern Cuba, impacting central and western Cuba Sunday night and early Monday where winds may decrease somewhat as Elsa interacts with Cuba's land mass.

Stay tuned to Patch for updates on Hurricane Elsa.