By Matt Sedensky, Associated Press Writer
MIAMI — Tropical Storm Barry formed Friday in the Gulf of Mexico, prompting the National Hurricane Center to issue a warning for a stretch of Florida's western coast.
The storm was located about 320 miles southwest of Tampa about 5 p.m. and was moving north at around 12 mph. Forecasters expected Barry to turn east and increase in speed over the next day, though no significant change in strength was anticipated before the storm's possible landfall.
"We're not looking for a hurricane," said Dave Roberts, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.
Word of the storm's development came on the first official day of a hurricane season forecasters have said they expect to be busier than normal. The National Weather Service said it expects 13 to 17 tropical storms, with seven to 10 of them becoming hurricanes and three to five of them in the strong category.
Roberts said it was "coincidence, maybe" that the storm formed on the first day of the season.
Forecasters issued a tropical storm warning, which means tropical storm conditions are expected in the next day, for the Gulf Coast from Bonita Beach to Keaton Beach. A less severe tropical storm watch, meaning such conditions were expected within 36 hours, was issued from north of Keaton Beach to St. Marks.
Barry's maximum sustained winds were about 45 mph. The hurricane center said it threatened to bring dangerous battering waves, coastal flooding of up to 5 feet and rainfall of three to six inches in the Florida Keys up through southeast Georgia.
Tropical Storm Barry formed more than three weeks after the first named storm of the year — Subtropical Storm Andrea — developed about 150 miles northeast of Daytona Beach. Andrea skirted the southern Atlantic coast but caused minimal damage.
