NU Online News Service, Sept. 28, 12:37 p.m. EDT

"Tropical Depression Sixteen" has formed in the Caribbean Sea and is expected to hit Cuba Tuesday night as a tropical storm before moving toward Florida the following day, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Florida Keys, Jupiter Inlet southward to Cape Sable, Fla., Florida Bay, the Northwestern and Central Bahamas, provinces of Cuba from Matanzas eastward to Ciego de Avila, and the Cayman Islands.

A tropical storm watch is in effect for north of Jupiter Inlet to Sebastian Inlet, Fla., and north of Cape Sable to Chokoloskee, Fla.

Currently, the storm is about 180 miles south of Havana Cuba and about 390 miles south-southwest of Miami.

The NHC said the system should strengthen to a tropical storm later today and should merge with a frontal zone on Thursday and dissipate.

The NHC added that the strongest winds and heaviest rains are occurring "well to the southeast" of the storm's center. "If this structure persists," the NHC said, "the track of the center will be relatively unimportant since significant impacts will be confined to the eastern portion of the circulation."

According to catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide, if the system becomes a named storm it will be the fourteenth of this active hurricane season.

Special Reports /

Tropical Storm Warning For Fla., Cuba As New System Forms

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