ORLANDO, Fla. – Hurricane Florence may be way out in the Atlantic, but the Category 3 storm could threaten the U.S. East Coast by late next week.
[PINPOINTING THE TROPICS: Hurricane Tracker]
The first major hurricane of the 2018 season, Florence on Wednesday night had maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was less than 2,000 miles from the U.S. coastline, still way too far out for a confident landfall prediction.
Still, the European and American computer models showed a menacing hurricane coming dangerously close late next week to North Carolina's Outer Banks, a significant shift westward from earlier model runs. Other predictions, though, showed Florence staying 500 miles offshore.
The storm's track will depend on the development and movement of a number of weather systems as the storm gets steered by a large ridge of high pressure in the eastern United States and the northern Atlantic Ocean, as well as the progress of a low-pressure trough across the country.
So, while it's certainly not time to press the panic button yet -- the models likely will change significantly over the next week to 10 days -- Florence definitely bears watching closely.
The focus on Florence comes less than a day after Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast, leaving one child dead in Florida and ushering storms through Monday across the western South and the Midwest.
Tropical waves form
Even if Florence stays out to sea, models show other systems developing over the Atlantic, almost on cue as the hurricane season hits its peak on Sept. 10. The eight weeks around that date often are prime time for the conditions that fuel powerful storms.
"What will likely become Helene in the next day or so has a 90 percent chance of development within the next five days," Bridges said. "It is currently a broad area of low pressure accompanied by disorganized cloudiness and showers that are centered a couple of hundred miles south-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands."
Behind that system, there is a tropical wave that is forecast to move off the west coast of Africa in a few days.
"Some development of the system is possible over the weekend," Bridges said. "Those two systems are something we have to pay close attention to."
Orlando-area forecast
Gordon will pull moisture away from Central Florida on Wednesday, putting rain chances at 30 percent.
Expect a high of 92 in Orlando. The average high on this date is 91.
Overnight lows will be in the mid-70s.
Rain chances ramp up to 50 percent on Thursday and 60 percent on Friday and Saturday.
[WEATHER: Extended forecast | Radar | Warnings | Pinpoint Weather Zones]
[DOWNLOAD: Pinpoint, Hurricane apps | SHARE: Weather pictures]
Watch News 6 for weather updates.