Weather

Lee County officials estimate about $1.1 million dollars in damages with more than one hundred mobile homes damaged and some 30 mobile homes destroyed. This was just one of a number of tornadoes that touched down across Southwest Florida on Sunday as a massive cold front moved across the state.

Charlotte County Commission declared a state of emergency in the county Monday in response to tornado damage on Sunday.

Seven tornadoes touched down in Southwest Florida on Sunday, damaging or destroying hundreds of homes in three counties, toppling trees and power poles, leaving hundreds without electricity, injuring at least three people and causing property damage sure to climb into the millions.

Swells from Major Hurricane Sam are expected to reach the coast on Friday and continue into the weekend as it spins well offshore.

Hurricane Sam reached category 3 status late Saturday morning, becoming the fourth Atlantic hurricane to achieve major hurricane status in 2021.

The season's 12th named storm -- Tropical Storm Larry -- is expected to become a major hurricane, but it is forecast to stay over the open waters this holiday weekend.

The season's ninth named storm is likely to be a major hurricane before it makes landfall along the central Gulf coast some time on Sunday.

The strong tropical wave over the western Caribbean is now Tropical Depression 9. It is forecast to become a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico this weekend and pose a significant risk to the central Gulf coast late in the weekend.

A new tropical depression is likely to form late this week or weekend over the western Caribbean. Atmospheric conditions favor strengthening once it enters the southern or western Gulf of Mexico by Sunday.

The tropics are likely to take a break most of this week after Tropical Storm Henri's landfall in New England Sunday afternoon. That break is expected to be short-lived.