As expected…Florence has gained some strength. It is a category 2 hurricane right now. It will likely strengthen even more over the next 24 hours. The hurricane looks healthy on satellite. The system is forecast to move west/northwest over the next few days. It is expected to strengthen into a category 4 hurricane in that time. It is forecast to make landfall sometime late Thursday.

The area that is most likely to see landfall at this point is in coastal North Carolina.

The models are focusing on that region now, but we could see some impacts. Especially if the GFS model is correct. It shows a closer landfall to Hatteras, NC. Coming up later this morning I’ll have a much bigger weather blog with more details including the models. I’ll also track hurricanes Helene and Isaac.
Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler