» Nate to strengthen near Yucatan,

State of emergency is declared for 29 counties in N. Florida.

Tropical Storm Nate was forecast to be near Mexico’s Yucatan’s peninsula Thursday night, perhaps as the season’s ninth hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said in advisories.

With Nate forecast to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast early Sunday, anywhere from Louisiana to the western end of Florida’s Panhandle, Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday declared a state of emergency for 29 Florida counties from the Alabama state line east to Gainesville. He said the move allows these counties greater flexibility in preparing for the storm. The Florida National Guard also made 7,000 members available for deployment if needed.

Nate spent much of Thurs-day over land in northeastern Nicaragua and then in eastern Honduras. It was forecast to strengthen Thursday night and today as it moves back over open water and possibly reach hurricane status, with top sustained winds of 74 mph, as it approaches the Yucatan peninsula.

The official forecast has the storm reaching a lowend Category 1 before making landfall. That track is a shift west from earlier in the week, when more of Florida was at risk of a weekend hit.

Authorities in Mexico and several Central American nations posted tropical storm and hurricane warnings Thursday for the storm. It formed as a tropical depression Wednesday, and on Thursday morning became a tropical storm and the year’s 14th named storm. The average season has 12 named storms.

At 8 p.m. Thursday, Nate was moving north-northwest at 10 mph, and forecasters said they expected it to gain speed. It had top sustained winds of 40 mph.

The hurric ane center warned Nate could drench Central America with rainfall of as much as 20 inches.