TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Floridians in the Panhandle and Big Bend, including those in areas hit by Hurricane Michael last year, could see impacts this weekend from Tropical Storm Nestor.
"This is not going to be a Michael, nothing even close to it," Mark Wool, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, said Friday. "But … for vulnerable structures and populations it's still going to be an impact."
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The storm won't have the 162 mph sustained winds that Hurricane Michael brought on shore near Mexico Beach on Oct. 10, 2018. But tropical-storm force winds can still cause minor damage, especially to property still unrepaired from Michael.
"There is no such thing as just a tropical storm," Wool said. "There's going to be enough wind that there is potential for damage."
The storm, according to the National Hurricane Center, is forecast to reach the northern Gulf Coast late Friday and move inland across parts of the Southeast U.S. over the weekend.
A tropical-storm warning was in effect Friday from Navarre to Yankeetown.
A storm-surge warning was in effect from Northwest Florida's Indian Pass to Clearwater Beach.
Wool said Panama City is expected to be close to landfall of the storm, which could include 60 mph sustained winds, with gusts up to 75 mph.
Other concerns are rain and storm surge, particularly across the Big Bend region.