Tropical Storm Sara's Threat to Florida Greatly Diminished: What to Know

Finally, some good news.

Tropical Storm Sara is no longer expected to pose a serious threat to Florida. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) predicts the storm will weaken over the next few days while moving north over the Yucatan Peninsula and is unlikely to re-enter the Gulf of Mexico (woo!).

As of Friday morning, the storm was situated near the northern coast of Honduras.

An NHC forecast issued Friday morning explains that the center of Sara will continue to move closer to the northern coast of Honduras through early Saturday before approaching the coast of Belize early Sunday.

"Through early next week, heavy rainfall from Sara will cause potentially catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides over northern portions of Honduras," the forecast states. "Elsewhere across the rest of Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, eastern Guatemala, western Nicaragua, and the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, heavy rainfall will cause significant and life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides."

It emphasizes that a tropical cyclone is not expected to form during the next seven days.

Formed in the western Caribbean Sea less than three weeks before the official end of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, the storm's path was difficult to predict earlier this week. However, New Times go-to meteorologist Brian McNoldy warned there was potential for the storm to cross over Central and South Florida sometime next week and
potentially even strengthen into a hurricane.

If a hurricane were to hit South Florida at this time of the year, it would mark South Florida's first November hurricane since the 1930s, McNoldy notes.

Dubbed the "Yankee hurricane" because it came from the north, the rare storm McNoldy alludes to made landfall near Miami Beach on November 4, 1935, as a Category 2.

The "official" Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30.

Florida's 2024 hurricane season was predicted to be among the most active ever, with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration forecasted anywhere from 17 to 25 named storms (storms with wind speeds of 39 mph or higher) — eight to 13 of which were predicted to become hurricanes, including four to seven major hurricanes.