FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—The National Hurricane Center said Fred regained its tropical storm status in the Gulf of Mexico early Sunday just hours before Grace was demoted to a tropical depression. Fred was forecast to move across the Gulf before reaching the coast Monday night or Tuesday morning, forecasters said. They said people from Alabama to the central Florida Panhandle should monitor the system’s progress. A tropical storm warning is now in effect for the coast of the Florida Panhandle from Navarre to the Wakulla/Jefferson County line, meaning tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area in the next 24 hours. A tropical storm watch is in effect for the coast of the Florida Panhandle from the Alabama/Florida border to Navarre. A storm surge warning has been issued for part of Florida’s Big Bend area. That’s the spot on the Gulf Coast where the Florida peninsula turns west into …