VENICE BEACH, Fla.—Tropical Storm Elsa strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane on Tuesday, hours before an expected landfall on Florida’s northern Gulf Coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The center of Elsa was about 100 miles (165 km) south-southwest of Tampa, Florida, and was moving north at around 9 miles per hour (15 km per hour), with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph), the NHC said in an 8 p.m. ET (0000 GMT on Wednesday) advisory. A hurricane watch was in effect from Egmont Key, in the Tampa Bay region, to the Steinhatchee River some 180 miles north along the Gulf Coast, with Elsa due to make landfall on Wednesday morning. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the storm was expected to come ashore between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. ET (1200 and 1300 GMT) around the Tampa Bay area. The sky was gray but conditions dry on …