TAMPA, Fla. — Thursday morning, Hurricane Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm as it tracked over Florida between Cape Coral and Palm Bay.
Before noon, Ian started to move back out to sea on Florida's east coast. The warm ocean water provides fuel to the storm, and Ian is regaining strength.
As of 11 a.m., the storm had sustained wind speeds of 70 mph — just four miles per hour shy of a Category 1 hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center is expecting Ian to ramp back up to a hurricane by Thursday evening and possibly make landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in South Carolina Friday morning.
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