At 2 p.m. on Sept. 28, Imelda’s sustained winds had just barely reached the point — 40 mph — strong enough to be considered a tropical storm, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane center’s official forecast calls for Imelda to organize as it moves northward offshore parallel to the Florida coast. ?Confidence is high that Tropical Storm Imelda will remain offshore the Southeast Coast. Thus, no significant or direct impacts are expected across the western Carolinas and northeast Georgia from Tropical Storm Imelda Monday into Tuesday. A tropical depression becomes a named tropical storm once its sustained wind speeds reaches 39 miles per hour.