Tropical Storm Emily Will Drench Miami Today

Unless you really hate the prose of Brontë or Dickinson or can't stand Post's advice, history is light on villains named Emily. Until now! Tropical Storm Emily is poised to wreck plans and generally be a pain in the ass from South Florida to Tampa Bay this week.

A quickly morphing band of low pressure and ragged storms in the Gulf of Mexico coalesced with surprising speed overnight. As of 8 a.m. today, it had formed into the fifth named storm of this young hurricane season.

The good news is Emily isn't expected to gain much more strength as it barrels off the Gulf and into Tampa and St. Petersburg this morning and through the evening. The bad news is it's already potent enough to dump up to eight inches of rain on parts of the Tampa metro area and widespread enough to soak South Florida as the system passes over the peninsula.

Take a look at this projection map and weep at any plans to venture outside today or tomorrow:
Though South Florida isn't within the warning cone, the storm is big and wet enough that we'll likely feel the effects through Tuesday.

With maximum sustained winds of about 45 mph, the tropical storm is dragging off the Gulf around 8 mph and heading almost due east toward Central Florida. NOAA says it expects the storm to tilt slightly toward the northeast later today before moving offshore into the Atlantic by Tuesday afternoon.

Heavy storm bands are already spinning off through the Everglades and will likely pummel South Florida this afternoon and through Tuesday. NOAA forecasts between one to two inches of rain in Miami but says "localized" areas could get nailed with up to four inches.

If Emily's rocket-quick development doesn't have you jazzed up for hurricane season, great news! There's another disturbance hanging out in the mid-Atlantic that forecasters are watching for potential development this week.