Nestor’s Structure Collapses While Dangerous Winds, Rain Remain

(Bloomberg) -- High winds, rain and coastal flooding will continue in the Florida panhandle and the U.S. Southeast through Sunday as Nestor moves inland and is absorbed by larger weather patterns.

Nestor still had top winds of 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour and was raising the threat of tornadoes across Florida even as its structure collapsed and it was no longer classified a tropical storm, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in an advisory at 11 a.m. New York time. There have been no thunderstorms, a key characteristic of tropical systems, at its core for at least six hours and it has merged with a larger weather front.

“Little change in strength is anticipated before Nestor reaches the Florida coast, followed by slight weakening after the cyclone moves inland,” Stacy Stewart, a senior hurricane specialist at the center, wrote in a forecast analysis.

Nestor was 2019’s 14th Atlantic storm. While it is no longer defined as a tropical storm, Nestor remained dangerous and is expected to spawn gale-force winds of at least 40 mph along the Atlantic coast late Saturday into Sunday. The gusts could reach the mid-Atlantic and are forecast to rake coastal waters. Now called a post-tropical cyclone, Nestor will dissipate off the East Coast early next week.

Heavy rain that spread throughout the Southeast and up the coast to North Carolina and southern Virginia may help alleviate drought conditions in the region.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tina Davis at tinadavis@bloomberg.net, Linus Chua, Steve Geimann

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