Just how powerful can wind shear be on a hurricane? Just one day after reaching category 4 strength and winds of 130 miles per hour, Florence was barely hanging on as a category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour Thursday afternoon.
Fighting wind shear could knock Florence back to a tropical storm, but forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warn that the system could restrengthen quickly as it moves away from that area. Florence could possibly reach major hurricane status again (category 3 or higher) by early next week.
Models suggest that Florence could get close to the U.S. East Coast, but the NHC notes there is a lot of uncertainty on Florence's long-term track and it is too soon to say what, if any, impact Florence would have on the U.S.
To the east of Florence, conditions appear ripe for two tropical waves to develop further. Both are given high chances of becoming at least a tropical depression sometime over the next five days.
The next names on the 2018 list are Helene and Issac.