Tropical Storm Fay is expected to be “at or near hurricane strength” by the time it makes landfall early Tuesday, but it had not intensified as much as expected today, and the director of the National Hurricane Center told The Miami Herald that southern Florida may have “dodged a bullet” this time. Still, hurricane warnings were in effect for much of the state’s southwestern Gulf Coast, where landfall was most likely, and colleges and universities were taking the threat seriously.

Dozens of institutions in the region started closing down today, with plans to reopen on Wednesday. Fall-semester classes have not yet begun at most of the area’s colleges, but at many, dormitories had planned to open for new students and orientation activities were scheduled. Individual institutions’ Web sites were posting details of cancellations and schedule changes.

Among the institutions in the storm’s projected path that announced closures were Edison State College, Manatee Community College, Southwest Florida College, and Florida Gulf Coast University.

The University of South Florida also closed some regional centers in that area, but planned to keep its main campus, in Tampa, open, as an emergency team continued to monitor weather conditions. Florida State University also closed its regional and medical campuses in southern Florida, but not its main campus, in Tallahassee. The University of Florida, in Gainesville, moved residence-hall check-ins from Tuesday to Thursday, and was planning to make a decision by midday Tuesday on whether to close the campus.

Along Florida’s Atlantic Coast, which apparently will escape the brunt of the storm but still experience heavy winds and rain, many campuses also closed early today and planned to remain closed on Tuesday. Among them were Broward College, where classes started today, along with Miami Dade College, Florida International and Nova Southeastern Universities, and the University of Miami.

Late this afternoon, the center of the storm passed over Key West, where Florida Keys Community College had already taken the precaution of closing for two days. Updates on the storm’s location and intensity are available on the Web site of the National Hurricane Center. —Charles Huckabee