Tropical Storm Andrea is a big green blotch of wet awfulness, plodding its way towards the Big Bend on Florida's west coast. The storm is already a big wet pain in the ass, with Tornado Warnings issued for northern Broward and south central Palm Beach County.
A funnel cloud was spotted near the Acreage, and there have been scattered reports of a spout touching down in Riviera Beach.
Andrea is also responsible for at least one injury, as an Loxahatchee woman was taken to the hospital with injuries after a tree fell through her roof, according to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.
Andrea is slow and wet and messy (and not in a good way). She is about 160 miles southwest of Tampa, moving at 14 mph with sustained winds of up to 60 mph.
A tropical storm warning has been posted for much of Florida's west coast, from Boca Grande to Indian Pass. There is also a tropical storm warning for the East Coast, from Flagler Beach to Charles Light.
Forecasters are saying that Andrea could produce up to 10 inches of rain, and create a storm surge of 5 feet, which means possible flooding along the west coast, which is just a bummer.
All this, and she hasn't even made landfall yet. Things should start to get ugly by this afternoon. Well... uglier.
As for our neck of the woods, the tornado warning for south central Palm Beach County will be lifted at 9 a.m., although we could expect to see more warnings throughout the day, which should be a barrel full-o-fun.
Schools remain open, but administrators are reminding parents to use caution when picking up their kids. It's the last day of school, so people are going to be a tad more frenzied than usual.
Palm Beach County officials have opened their operation center, plugged in the radar, and opened up their laptops to monitor the storm.
Andrea will remain a tropical storm until she meets her demise somewhere far from Florida. She will make landfall late Thursday and then is expected to move through Georgia and the Carolinas over the weekend.
So, you may want to cancel that weekend trip to the beach. Unless drowning in riptides is your thing.
We'll provide updates when needed.
Follow Chris Joseph on Twitter
Follow @NewTimesBroward
