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Escambia County EMA Director David Adams is keeping tabs on Tropical Storm Francine ahead of the storm ramping up to hurricane status.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Adams said the impending path of the storm will certainly put our area on the worst side of the storm.

“Tropical Storm Francine currently has sustained winds of 65 mph and is traveling NNE at 8 mph.  This track and the current forecast have TS Francine making landfall in south central Louisianna late tomorrow as a hurricane.  A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for coastal Mobile and Baldwin Counties,” Adams said. :Currently, the forecast models are mostly in agreement with this forecast. However, the latest forecast track did shift slightly to the east from the previous forecast.  This track places Escambia County to the east side of the storm.  As we all know, the east side usually has more severe impacts than the west side.”

Adams said the forecast for the Escambia County area is showing potentially heavy rains, gusty winds and a possible some isolated tornadoes.

“The current forecast for our area calls for fainfall totals that could be 2”-3” in some areas,” Adams said. “In addition to gusty winds and possible tornado activity in the forecast,  the tornado threat is listed as marginal.  All these impacts will be driven by the path of the rain or feeder bands that are created by the tropical system.  This means that some of our areas may see more impacts than other areas.”

Adams is urging residents to monitor the storm for possible changes in the forecast and severity and to prepare accordingly.