FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Tropical Storm Eta is still making its presence felt in South Florida, even as it threatens the Gulf Coast with a likely Thursday landfall.

South Florida was under a variety of warnings and watches Wednesday, including a severe weather advisory for Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Much of Broward, Palm Beach, Collier and Hendry counties spent hours under tornado warnings.

Going to the Gulf Coast, a hurricane watch is in effect for Anna Maria Island to Yankeetown, where hurricane conditions are possible within 24 hours, forecasters said. Eta’s tropical-storm-force winds stretch out over 115 miles.

Tampa International Airport suspended flights beginning at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Flights are scheduled to resume at noon Thursday.

Eta, which has 70 mph winds, just 4 mph below hurricane status, has a dangerous storm surge of up to 5 feet that could occur anywhere from Bonita Beach to Steinhatchee River, including Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor, forecasters said. The area is under a storm surge warning.

The storm is expected to quickly weaken as it moves over land.

Rainfall of 2 to 4 inches, with maximum storm total accumulations of 6 inches, is expected in western and central Florida in the next 48 hours.

As of 4 p.m., Eta was 65 miles west-southwest of St. Petersburg and 85 miles southwest of Tampa, moving north at 12 mph, according to the hurricane center.

The latest forecast track has Eta offshore of the southwest coast of Florida on Wednesday and then traveling inland over the northern portion of the Florida Peninsula on Thursday.

A tropical storm warning and a storm surge watch were issued for Florida’s west coast from Bonita Beach to the Suwannee and Steinhatchee rivers, including Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor. A tropical storm warning is still in place for Dry Tortugas.

A tropical storm watch is in place for Florida’s Gulf Coast from north of the Suwannee River to the Aucilla River.

Eta should start to weaken Wednesday night or early Thursday due to storm-shredding wind shear.

Ken Graham, director of the National Hurricane Center, said the storm was entering a “hostile environment” of dry air and wind shear that would limit the extent it could strengthen.

Although the storm has churned away from South Florida, the region remains on high alert for rain and flooding Wednesday.

The region may also experience king tides, the seasonal high tides that can flood coastal neighborhoods, as early as Thursday.

Before that, Eta will continue to bring swells to southern Florida “likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the hurricane center said.

Eta made landfall in the Florida Keys late Sunday as a tropical storm and its rain bands subjected South Florida to high winds and dangerous flash floods, the hurricane center said.

Eta was the first storm of the 2020 season to make landfall in Florida. Louisiana, by contrast, has been hit with five named storms — Hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta, and Tropical Storms Cristobal and Marco.

Subtropical Storm Theta formed Monday night in the Atlantic, becoming a record-breaking 29th named storm in what has already been a historic hurricane season. Theta, which became a tropical storm on Tuesday afternoon, formed far out in the eastern Atlantic and was producing top winds of 60 mph.

The storm broke the previous record of 28 named storms set in the 2005 season, according to the National Hurricane Center.

This is the latest there have been two named storms in the Atlantic since 1887, according to Professor Jennifer Collins of the University of South Florida.

There’s also a possible area of disturbance, Invest 98L, in the southwest Caribbean near where Eta formed. It has a 80% chance of developing into a tropical depression late this week or this weekend, according to forecasters — but it’s not expected to move northward and threaten the U.S.

“At least right now there’s no signs of that from many of the models,” Molleda said.

The next named storm would be Iota.

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