HOLT, Fla., Nov. 8, 2020—Tropical Storm Eta is forecast to re-strengthen to a hurricane the next day or so after it moves over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico.

The center of Eta will pass near or over the Florida Keys tonight and early Monday, and be over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico late tomorrow and Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The Keys are under a hurricane warning. Most of south Florida is under a tropical storm warning.

Data from a NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft and National Weather Service Doppler radar indicate that maximum sustained winds are near 65 mph with higher gusts.

Eta has a fairly large radius of maximum winds with tropical-storm-force winds extending outward up to 310 miles from the center, according to the NHC.

During the next day or so, Eta is forecast to move over warmer waters in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico where wind shear is forecast to decrease.

This is expected to allow for some strengthening and Eta is forecast re-gain hurricane strength by Tuesday.

However, gradual weakening is predicted between 72-to-120 hours due to increasing southwesterly shear and drier air.

Eta is forecast to approach the Florida Gulf Coast later this  week as a tropical storm and could bring impacts from rain, wind and storm surge.

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Other developments

Other tropical activity includes a low pressure system several hundred miles southwest of the Azores.

Shower and thunderstorm activity associated with this system is beginning to show some signs of organization, according to the NHC.

The low could develop further during the next several days and a tropical or subtropical storm could develop by the end of the week while it moves east or northeast away from the United States, according to the hurricane center.

This system has a medium 40 percent chance of development.

Closer to home, a new tropical wave is forecast to mover over the central Caribbean Sea where an area of low pressure could form in a few days.

Further development is low at 30 percent.

National Hurricane Center forecasts