Just read this... I know it's still a little to early to tell but hopefully it wont hit FL
Dennis Nears Hurricane Strength
UPDATED: 2:14 pm EDT July 6, 2005
MIAMI -- The outer rainbands of Tropical Storm Dennis approach Hispaniola, and it's close to becoming the season's first hurricane.
Forecasters said it's the earliest date on record for four named storms to have formed in the Atlantic basin, WESH 2 News reported.
Residents in the Florida Panhandle are keeping a watchful eye on Dennis, which is brewing in the Caribbean and may arrive in the Gulf of Mexico by the weekend.
A hurricane warning was issued Wednesday for Jamaica, and the government of Haiti has issued a hurricane warning for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti from the Dominican Republic border. A hurricane watch remains in effect for the Cayman Islands and for eastern and central Cuba.
At 2 p.m., the system was about 350 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and moving west-northwest at 15 mph and the general motion is expected to continue for the next 24 hours. The center of the storm was located near latitude 15.7 north, longitude 72.0 west.
On this track, Dennis is expected to be near Jamaica early Thursday.
Maximum sustained winds are near 70 mph, with higher gusts. Some strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours, and Dennis could become a hurricane later Wednesday. An Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft is enroute to investigate Dennis during the afternoon.
Tropical-storm force winds extend outward up to 85 miles from the center.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Barahona westward to the Haiti-Dominican Republic border.
The latest projected path shifts Dennis more to the center of the Gulf of Mexico, farther away from Florida than it was on Tuesday.