Tropical Storm Francine recently formed in the Gulf of Mexico, and is traveling around 5 mph with wind speeds around 60 mph. Current projections show it’s expecting to increase to hurricane force winds before making landfall. This chart will help you to correlate the Category ratings to the sustained wind speeds:
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale
The current path of Francine forecasts this storm to make landfall as a Hurricane on the coast of Louisiana, and not the Panama City Beach or 30A area, but these storms and direction can change quickly so we continue to monitor it.
At this time, the concern for Panama City Beach will be rain and flooding. Rip currents, strong winds, coastal flooding and tornados are also possible. The governor MAY declare a state of emergency for the state of Florida as a pro-active step to prepare for the impact on the coast, and the rains and flood waters that are expected across the state. This is standard protocol.
No mandatory evacuations have been announced or are anticipated at this time for Panama City Beach or Santa Rosa Beach.
If we need to move balcony furniture due to anticipated wind speeds, you will be contacted as soon as that’s confirmed.
We will continue to monitor the storm as if moves through the gulf. At a minimum we would expect some wind and rains in the area, even when the storm path moves to the west of us. Storm paths can change quickly, however, so we will continue to monitor this storm under Storm Updates on our website.
