Florence was moving through the central Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday morning.
Hurricane Florence formed Tuesday morning (Sept. 4) in the central Atlantic Ocean. The Category 1 storm, which is currently not expected to affect land, is the third hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season.
In an 11 a.m. update, the National Hurricane Center said Florence was located in the Atlantic, about 1,240 miles west-northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands off the coast of Africa. The storm was moving west-northwest at about 12 miles per hour.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds are measured near 75 miles per hour with higher gusts, making it a weak Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Storms with wind speeds between 74 and 95 mph are considered Category 1 storms.
Florence is expected to continue traveling north-northwest through the Atlantic on Wednesday, though forecasters predict the storm will slow starting Thursday and headed into the weekend. The storm is likely to weaken, possibly returning to tropical storm status by Wednesday night, according to the forecast.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 15 miles from Florence’s center, while tropical-storm-force winds extend roughly 105 miles outward.
There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect related to Florence.
Forecasters are watching two other tropical systems in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
Tropical Storm Gordon on Tuesday morning was approaching the central Gulf Coast. Gordon is expected to make landfall Tuesday night on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. See live updates as Gordon approaches.
Forecasters are also monitoring a tropical wave in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. The wave has a high chance (70 percent) of forming into a tropical depression over the next five days, though it is still too early to tell whether the system will affect Louisiana or the U. S. coastline. Read more about the tropical wave.
Read the National Hurricane Center’s latest update on Hurricane Florence.
