Is Hurricane Sara Heading Towards Florida? Everything You Need to Know

Do Floridians need to brace for impact? An advisory was issued on the morning of Nov. 13, 2024, about a storm that seems primed to develop into a major hurricane.

The exact strength and path of the system are still up for debate, leaving many wondering if there is another hurricane coming to Florida.

For a state that already saw a lot of action during the 2024 hurricane season, it's easy to understand why they'd be worried, especially if predictions that this storm could morph into a devastating Category 4 are correct.

Learn more about the storm already being dubbed Hurricane Sara below.

A storm advisory was issued by the National Hurricane Center, according to USA Today, notifying the public about a "broad area of low pressure" building out in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. The system has apparently already been responsible for a massive swath of thunderstorms, and the hurricane center says it looks likely that the system will continue to grow.

Initially, the storm was given the title Invest 99L, but if it continues to develop the storm will officially go by the name Hurricane Sara.

All of this is bad news for Florida, according to AccuWeather, which says there's a chance a storm will make landfall on the Sunshine State. Not only that, but AccuWeather meteorologists say that the models make it seem like the impact will be significant thanks to the low windshear in the area. Typically, windshear can help prevent storms like this from forming. However, right now, there's not enough of it to make a difference.

Another thing Florida has working against it is all that warm water surrounding the east coast of the state. That, combined with the lack of windshear, could help add some intensity to the storm, allowing it to morph into a deadly Category 4 system before it makes landfall.

If the experts are right, this will be the 12th hurricane to form and the fourth to hit Florida during the 2024 season.

While the predictions are still too far out to be considered an actual forecast for the region, tracking systems seem to show the storm hitting somewhere on the east coast, with some predictions saying it will hit somewhere along the center of the coast.

Of course, there are still a few factors that can impact the path and intensity of the storm, including whether or not it makes landfall in Central America. That's because traveling over the region could lessen the storm's intensity.

If that's the case USA Today predicts that the storm may not have enough time to regroup before it hits Florida, which could cause it to weaken enough to give residents a bit of a reprieve.

Still, the path and strength of this storm are anyone's guess, which is why experts advise residents to pay close attention to the changing forecast.

If conditions continue to worsen, Florida could see Sara's effects as early as Nov. 19, 2024. While that would be late by traditional standards, many people agree that late storms could eventually become more common thanks to the ongoing impacts of climate change which have led to the warmer waters that help these storm systems develop into such devastating monsters.