A stretch of the Florida coast from Palm Beach County to Volusia County was placed under a tropical storm watch Saturday morning — though the strongest winds of soon-to-be Tropical Storm Imelda were expected to stay well offshore.
The long-term forecast for the system, which reached depression strength and was expected to become a tropical storm later tonight or Sunday, remained tricky.
The predicted path for the next few days would keep Imelda’s core off Florida coast as it tracks north. But forecasters now believe it could avoid a direct landfall as it near the Carolinas and instead be yanked out to sea, likely by the strong atmospheric pull of Category 4 Hurricane Humberto…