The latest projected path of Ernesto shows the system remaining a tropical storm as it hits South Florida Tuesday and moves through the state, according to Local 6 meteorologist Tom Sorrells.

"According to the Hurricane Center and hopefully for all us, (Ernesto) never regains hurricane strength and stays a tropical storm throughout its lifetime," Sorrells said.

The expected path of movement shifted inland Monday night.

"The downside to this is that they swung the path of projected movement farther inland," Sorrells said. "Rather than just coming through Brevard County and shooting out they are bringing it out all the over into eastern Orange County."

Sorrells said Orange County could experience tropical storm winds on Wednesday.

"Brevard County, you are going to bear the brunt of the big winds with this thing and some of those winds may get over into Orange County as time wears on but at least it is not a huge, huge Category 1 storm knocking on the door." he said.

Monday night, the storm remained at its current strength.

"This thing is not under going rapid intensification and that is great," Sorrells said. "The longer it stays weak, the more we like it."

Central Florida will see strong winds and heavy rain on Wednesday.

"We are talking about a good 12-hour event," Sorrells said. "We start to feel the effects early Wednesday and by late Wednesday we start to get rid of this thing. By Thursday morning, it is coming out of Volusia County, Flagler Beach and up into South Carolina."

Gov. Bush: Don't Underestimate Ernesto

Gov. Jeb Bush warned Floridians to take a potential Category 1 hurricane slamming into the state this week seriously and that the state is preparing for a Category 2 storm during a hurricane briefing Monday.

"Hurricanes are hurricanes," Bush said. "We start thinking, 'Well a Category 3 storm -- boy that is bad and I better take this seriously and anything below that, not that important.' That is the wrong attitude. We have been hit by so many hurricanes that I think people start thinking they have the capability of underwriting the risks based on whether the storm is a Category 1, Category 2 or Category 3.

Bush reminded the state that Category 1 Katrina caused problems for the state last year.

"Katrina hit Florida before it hit the Gulf Coast," Bush said. "It was a Category 1 storm -- people died because they were out in the midst of the storm thinking it wasn't a potent storm. It created a lot of hardship for residents of South Florida just as other storms that had been Category 1 had done. We are planning for a Category 2 storm."

Watches, Warnings Issued

About 400 miles of coast were under the watch from New Smyrna Beach southward on the east coast and from Chokoloskee southward on the west coast.

In the 5 p.m. update from the National Hurricane Center, Ernesto was forecast to move over Brevard County on Wednesday afternoon as a tropical storm with sustained winds of 60 mph.

A state of emergency was in effect for all Florida, because forecasters said Ernesto could potentially threaten a large swath of the state by late in the week.

At 5 p.m. EDT, Ernesto was just inland over eastern Cuba.

Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 40 mph -- down from from 50 mph earlier today as Ernesto interacted with land. However, restrengthening is expected when the center moves over the warm Gulf Stream waters to the north of Cuba.

Ernesto was moving toward the northwest near 13 mph.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.