ORLANDO, Fla. — The tropics remain active with Hurricane Florence in the open waters of the Atlantic, Tropical Depression Gordon producing torrential rain and flooding in the mid-Mississippi Valley -- plus other potential development near Africa in the coming days.

Gordon is a very weak depression, but is still expected to produce total rain accumulations of 2 to 4 inches over portions of western Mississippi, southern and western Arkansas, and from western to northern Missouri into adjacent parts of Illinois with isolated maximum amounts of 8 inches through early Saturday. Rainfall has already caused flash flooding across portions of these areas.

In the Atlantic, Florence is still encountering strong wind shear (winds aloft), which has now weakened this system to a tropical storm.

Located 975 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands, it is moving west-northwest at 7 mph.

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 15 miles from the storm’s center, with tropical storm force winds outward up to 90 miles. The minimum central pressure is 993 mb.

While Florence is weaker now, an increase in strength is possible this weekend.

Forecast models have been inconsistent in determining the future path of Florence, either keeping it out to sea or bringing it closer to the east coast of the United States. 

We will closely monitor its track in the coming days.

Tropical waves

Two more tropical waves near the coast of Africa have a high likelihood for tropical development over the next two days. The next names in the 2018 hurricane season list are Helene and Isaac.

Atlantic hurricane season runs through Nov. 30.