Friday Morning Storm Update: Tampa Weather Forecasters Weigh In

Tampa Bay's weather experts are still keeping a close eye on a system in the western Caribbean. Its path and strength aren't known yet but most seem to think we'll have a solid idea of what kind of impact we'll see here in the Tampa area by the end of this weekend.

Florida waters are extremely warm and that's causing concern. But none of the forecasters are thinking this will be a strong hurricane. Most are of the opinion that this will turn into a Tropical Storm. But again, it's still too soon to tell.

Here are the latest observations from Tampa's best known weather forecasters. They are in agreement that this weekend is a good time to prepare and check in for updates as the storm takes shape. But, as always, we remember Denis Phillips' rule #7... don't freak out!

In fact, not only should you stay calm, this storm could actually turn out to be pretty beneficial for the Tampa area. We are in need of rain right now.

An overview of how things look this morning...

Patience is key here. Mike explains why you haven't seen one of those infamous spaghetti models yet.

The timing on really being able to predict on where this storm is headed still looks to be late this weekend.

The timeframe on the arrival of the wind and rain still looks to be the middle of next week.

Time to prepare if you haven't already... just in case.

A lot of rain would not be a bad thing for the Tampa area right now.

How much of a wind event could this be?

While we wait to see what this storm's path and strength will be, for this weekend, it's just all about the heat.

A hurricane seems less likely... for now.