New Orleans ? A tropical depression came ashore in the Florida panhandle Friday, sparing coastal Louisiana and Mississippi in the first serious brush with tropical weather since two hurricanes laid waste to the area in 2005.

Forecasters downgraded the threat when the storm system moved ashore near Fort Walton Beach in the panhandle with top sustained winds of 35 mph.

The weather service discontinued tropical storm warnings that had stretched from Apalachicola, Fla., to the mouth of the Mississippi River, including metropolitan New Orleans.

Late Friday night, the system was moving northwest near 9 mph with maximum sustained winds near 30 mph. Two to 4 inches of rain was expected, and as much as 6 inches in some areas.