LIVE: Hurricane Francine wobbles off track. See real-time wobble tracker

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Hurricane Francine formed Monday as it makes its way through the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to make landfall on Wednesday.

WFLA meteorologists track Francine’s “wobbles,” or small movements, on its path. Those wobbles determin where the tropical storm is headed.

While the movements may seem negligible at first glance, these wobbles do make a big difference when they compound into a change in the storm’s path.

This was the case when Max Defender 8 first launched the wobble tracker for Hurricane Ian, a Category 5 hurricane that was originally expected to make a direct hit on Tampa Bay but “wobbled” further south to its landfall in Charlotte County, Fla.

The wobble tracker watches the motion of hurricanes and tropical storms by using a combination of data from satellites, radar, the forecast trajectory, and the previous path the storm is on, to give an indication how the path is changing in real time.

The WFLA Wobble Tracker will remain actively streaming 24/7 until Francine makes landfall.

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