A weakened Tropical Depression Ida emerged Friday into hot Caribbean waters and was expected to quickly regain strength as it moves north toward the United States and, possibly, landfall somewhere along Florida's Gulf Coast.

But the National Hurricane Center expects the storm to lose steam as it churns into cooler waters in the Gulf of Mexico toward a still uncertain destination.

At 4 p.m. The National Hurricane Center forecast that Ida would remain a tropical storm until next five days, but spokesman Dennis Feltgen said forecasters were confident that storm would weaken as it pulls in cooler water and cooler air.

Ida was moving slowly north with 35-mph winds. By Monday, the center's official prediction puts Ida just north of the Yucatan Peninsula, then later hooking northeast toward the Big Bend area of Florida. But with the storm still far off, forecasters cautioned that the window of possible tracks is large, stretching from Key West to New Orleans.

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