A tropical storm warning for the Lower Keys was discontinued early Tuesday as Laura moved further into the Gulf of Mexico.
A tropical storm warning still remains for the Dry Tortugas.
Laura, a Category 1 hurricane, is forecast to be a Category 3 hurricane when it makes landfall between Texas and Louisiana late Wednesday or early Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Tropical Storm Laura just below hurricane-level strength and is forecast to “become a major hurricane” Wednesday as it nears the Louisiana and Texas coastline, according to the National Hurricane Center. National Hurricane Center
Swells generated by Laura will still be affecting portions of Cuba, the central Bahamas and the Florida Keys Tuesday and will likely cause “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” according to the hurricane center.
It will also still be breezy across South Florida, with winds gusting up to 30 mph with some gusts near 40 mph, according to NBC6.
On Monday, the National Weather Service in Key West recorded peak gusts as high as 69 mph as Laura moved south of the island chain.
Quick look at the peak gusts across the Florida Keys/coastal waters, associated with Tropical Storm Laura passing by to the distant south.
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow. Support my work with a digital subscription
