MIDWAY, FL (WTXL) -- Tropical Storm Nate continues to brew in the northwestern Caribbean Sea.
It is traveling to the north-northwest at around 20 MPH. The steering flow for the system is a combination of high pressure off the east coast of Florida and a trough over the western Gulf of Mexico.
The system will likely interact with land near the Yucatan Peninsula. Overnight tonight, the system will reach the central Gulf of Mexico. It will continue traveling north through the day on Saturday. It is expected to make landfall late Saturday into Sunday.
At this time, only the far western Panhandle counties are under tropical storm watches. Much of Louisiana is under hurricane watches since models have been in fairly good agreement that landfall will likely be between central LA and western FL Panhandle. A line west of Apalachicola separates the counties under warnings and those that are not.
Landfall near the predicted area will put the rest of the Big Bend on the east side of the storm, which is typically an active area for weather. There is chance for isolated water spouts and tornadoes Saturday night and Sunday.
Saturday afternoon is the earliest we will start to see rain from outer feeder bands associated with Tropical Storm Nate. Winds will start coming in out of the southeast ahead of the system. While we will not be seeing consistent tropical storm force winds, gusts of that strength are possible on Sunday.