TAMPA, Florida — While the West Coast sweated in a heat wave, forecasters warned of severe thunderstorms along the East Coast Sunday and issued a tropical storm warning for Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Weekend plans could be rained out for millions of people from New York through North Carolina, as thunderstorms were expected to blast winds up to 55 miles per hour later on Sunday. Hail and tornadoes also were possible.
National forecasters also issued a tropical storm warning for Florida’s Gulf Coast after a tropical depression gusting winds up to 35 miles per hour formed about 125 miles northwest of Cozumel, Mexico.
The warning affected the coastline from Englewood, Florida, to Indian Pass in the state’s panhandle. The system was expected to strengthen into a tropical storm before reaching the state Monday afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
On its current track, the center would land around the Big Bend region near the Florida Panhandle, the agency said.
The storm could dump as much as eight inches on the state. Sandbags were being made available in the Tampa area.
“This is expected to be a fast-moving storm, which means that it could mature very rapidly and very close, giving us little warning,” Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Bryan Koon said in a news release Saturday.
The storm, which would be named Colin, comes amid a brisk start to the Atlantic hurricane season running through Nov. 30. Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Carolinas were lashed by heavy rain and winds from Tropical Storm Bonnie.
Meanwhile, the western United States is sweltering under a heat wave that was expected to bring record high temperatures.
The National Weather Service predicted temperatures well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit for parts of southern California, Arizona and Nevada. Inland areas of the Pacific Northwest also were expected to sweat out unseasonable heat.