As Florida residents are rebuilding after the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian – the most deadly hurricane in the state for over 90 years – they are being warned of Subtropical Storm Nicole due to strike later this week.
Storm Nicole is a subtropical storm that could become a Category 1 hurricane before hitting Florida’s east coast late on Wednesday or Thursday.
The National Hurricane Center put into place a Hurricane Watch for much of the coast from the Volusia/Brevard County Line to Hallandale Beach as well as for Lake Okeechobee.
The expected arrival of Storm Nicole in Florida comes around a month after Category 4 Hurricane Ian inflicted considerable destruction to the state towards the end of September.
On Monday morning Storm Nicole was heading north easterly at a speed of around 9 mph, according to a notice put out by the National Hurricane Center at 10am.
Its heading will become more easterly in the next day and on Wednesday it is expected to pass over the northwestern Bahamas, according to the notice.
It will then hit the coast of Florida on Wednesday night and storm surges are expected. Storm Surge Watches were put into place between Altamaha Sound and Hallandale Beach.
Nicole is unique in that is a late-season storm.
A subtropical storm is a cyclone with a consistent wind speed of greater than 29 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center, which is based in Florida.
They have cold as opposed to warm cores and are different from a tropical storms in that they have a lesser likelihood of developing into hurricanes, according to the National Weather Service.
A Category 1 storm is the lowest classification for a storm on the hurricane wind scale and applies to those with minimum sustained wind speeds of 74 mph.
