Hurricane Florence Is a Category 3 Major Storm, Could Approach US East Coast

Hurricane Florence was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane, but forecasters are expecting the storm to reintensify next week.

Forecasters are not sure whether the storm will pose any threat to the U.S. East Coast yet. According to some models, the storm could hit anywhere from Florida to New England sometime next week.

“Potential landfall could be about 7 days away ... but still majority of solutions safely curve away,” tweeted Ryan Maue of weathermodels.com on Sept. 6. “Track of #Florence dependent upon a host of factors—all of which can introduce error or uncertainty,” he wrote on Sept. 5.

As of Thursday morning, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, Florence has winds of 105 mph and is moving to the northwest at 10 mph.

Currently, it is located 1,030 miles east-northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands and 1,115 miles east-southeast of Bermuda.

There are no coastal warnings or watches for the United States associated with the storm.

“Florence may begin to move faster toward the west-northwest over the western Atlantic early next week,” said the NHC. “Swells generated by Florence will begin to affect Bermuda on Friday and will reach portions of the U.S. East Coast over the weekend. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. Please consult products from your local weather office,” according to the agency.

The Weather Channel reported that due to warm Atlantic Ocean temperatures and decreasing wind shear early next week, the storm should reintensify. Wind shear is a change in the wind direction or speed that often weakens tropical cyclones.

“An area of high pressure over the central Atlantic will bridge westward and join with an existing high pressure near the U.S. East coast over the next several days,” according to AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski. “This setup will guide Florence on a west to northwesterly course into next week,” Kottlowski said.

“Since 1851, 67 named storms have passed within 200 nautical miles of Florence’s present location, and not a single one has ever hit the United States. So if this one does, it would be a remarkable outlier,” said the Washington Post.

However, people who live near the Atlantic coast should keep an eye on the storm, and people should have an emergency kit with supplies for at least three days.

Gordon Still a Threat

The remains of Tropical Depression Gordon is still affecting the interior of the United States, spreading heavy rain across parts of the South.

Gordon made landfall on Sept. 4 night near the Alabama-Mississippi border.

“While Gordon may not exist much longer as a tropical cyclone, its remnant circulation will curl northward into the Ozarks by Friday and Saturday, then sharply turn northeastward into the mid-Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and Great Lakes this weekend and into early next week,” according to The Weather Channel. It will later affect the Ohio Valley and Mississippi Valley.