MIAMI _ Tropical Depression Ida emerged into the steamy waters of the Northwest Caribbean on Friday, where it was expected to quickly regain strength and move north _ possibly toward landfall somewhere along Florida's Gulf Coast.
By the time it nears shore, however, the National Hurricane Center expects it to lose steam as it slurps in cooler air and cooler waters from the Northern Gulf of Mexico.
"The forecasters feel pretty confident that it is going to start losing its tropical characteristics," said center spokesman Dennis Feltgen. 'We don't see it turning into a hurricane in the Gulf."
Still, the state emergency operations center in Tallahassee, Fla., was monitoring Ida's track and urging residents to do the same. Ida, even if it weakens below tropical storm strength, could hit some part of the Gulf Coast with heavy rains, rough seas and strong winds as early as Wednesday.
Late Friday, Ida was moving slowly north with 35-mph winds.
By Monday, the center expected Ida to brush the Yucatan Peninsula and cross in the Gulf of Mexico. From there, forecasters admit to a great deal of uncertainty.
The official forecast track had Ida, weakened to an extratropical system, hooking northeast toward the Big Bend area of Florida on Wednesday. But the window of possible tracks was large, stretching from Key West to New Orleans.
Ida formed with less than a month left in the hurricane season, which officially ends on Dec. 1, but that's not all that unusual. The average, said Feltgen, is one or two a year with most, like Ida, forming in the late season hurricane hot house of the Caribbean.
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