ORLANDO, Fla. — Tropical Storm Elsa formed early Thursday in the Atlantic and its possible track includes Central Florida.

Elsa continues to move very quickly to the west.

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The storm has sustained winds at around 45 mph and is moving west-northwest at around 29 mph.

Storms that move fast have a hard time getting stronger, so rapid strengthening is not expected.

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Central Florida is currently monitoring the storm to see what will happen in the next 36 hours.

The path the storm will take will become much clearer in the next few days.

Elsa’s forecast model still has a high uncertainty in both strength and track into next week.

Elsa is now the fifth named storm of the 2021 hurricane season.

The storm is forecast to pass near or over portions of the Windward Islands or the southern Leeward Islands on Friday, the National Hurricane Center reported.

It will then move into the eastern Caribbean Sea late Friday and move near the southern coast of Hispaniola on Saturday.

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While there’s lower than normal confidence in the track and intensity forecast as the cone itself gets closer to Florida, there is still a risk of storm surge, wind and rain impacting parts of South Florida and the Florida Keys early next week.

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