Ernesto is El Floppo

The folks in Florida caught a break as what was briefly Hurricane Ernesto passed into Florida as a very weak tropical storm. The mountains of Cuba proved to be too much for the wandering storm:

South Florida residents breathed a sigh of relief early Wednesday after Tropical Storm Ernesto confounded forecasters by lumbering ashore without the hurricane-strength winds once feared.

Ernesto lost much of its punch crossing mountainous eastern Cuba and made landfall late Tuesday on Plantation Key with 45-mph winds - far from the 74-mph threshold for a hurricane that Ernesto briefly met Sunday. Early Wednesday, those winds were down to 40 mph.

"Fortunately it didn't get too big," said David Rudduck of the American Red Cross. "It was the little train that couldn't."

Forecasters said Ernesto could soon weaken to a tropical depression, but warned that strong winds could lash the state and rain bands could dump as much as 10 inches of rain in some spots along Florida's east coast.

They'll still get lots of rain which will be welcome in many parts of the south. The forecasters have a bit of a red face given the dire predictions for this storm that were issued last week. The hurricane season continues to underperform from the original estimates - much to the relief of homeowners and insurance companies.