EMILY STALLED OFF DOMINICAN COAST LAST NIGHT AND WILL NOW HIT HAITI THURS AND FRIDAY – TORRENTIAL RAINS EXPECTED.

Residents of southeastern Florida could be dealing with more than rip currents early this weekend with Tropical Storm Emily set to pass extremely close to the coastline.

Since Emily failed to make significant northward progress on Wednesday, the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center pushed the storm’s future track closer to South Florida.

After unleashing torrential rain across Hispaniola and eastern Cuba into Friday, Emily is now expected to pass within 100 miles of Florida’s easternmost point on Saturday as a strengthening tropical storm.

“A tropical storm watch should be issued for southeast Florida today,” declared AccuWeather.com Tropical Weather and Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski.

“That will be followed by a warning if the storm is projected into the southeast coast of Florida,” Kottlowski continued.

Pinpointing the exact track of Emily is crucial to determining the severity of its impacts on southeastern Florida.

A path 100 miles offshore would spare southeastern Florida of Emily’s tropical storm-force winds and the worst of its heaviest rain. The western islands of the Bahamas would instead bear the brunt of Emily.

If that distance is decreased by half, tropical storm-force winds would likely reach Florida’s coastline Friday night into Saturday. Bands of heavy rain would also increase along the corridor from Miami to Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach.

A track even closer or directly over Florida’s southeastern coast could allow the gusty winds and heavy rain to encompass more of South Florida. Isolated tornadoes would also become a concern in this scenario.

As the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center continues to refine the precise proximity Emily will track to South Florida, all residents and visitors in the area should monitor the tropical storm’s progress.

Regardless of Emily’s exact track, rough surf and rip currents will endanger swimmers at all beaches of Florida’s east coast on Saturday. This danger will increase elsewhere along the southeastern U.S. coastline as the weekend progresses.

This infrared satellite image, courtesy of NOAA, showed Emily unleashing its heavy rain across Hispaniola earlier this morning.

Emily will likely not impact the Southeast coastline, from northeastern Florida northward, beyond the threat of rough surf and rip currents.

Instead, Emily should curve around to the northeast and head out into the open waters of the northwestern Atlantic. Such a turn is actually bad news in terms of drought relief, according to AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Brian Edwards.

It is not out of the question that Emily never has an opportunity to roam the waters offshore of the Carolinas. Until Emily starts to track in a more northwest than west fashion, a track over Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico cannot be ruled out, according to Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

Interaction with the rugged terrain of the Greater Antilles (Hispaniola, Cuba and Puerto Rico) is and will continue to impact Emily the next couple of days. If Emily moves away from these land areas, there is room to strengthen or regroup,” Sosnowski added.

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