As of Thursday morning, Hurricane Florence is still just over 1,000 miles away from Bermuda. However, large swells from the storm creating dangerous rip current conditions could reach the East Coast of the United States including North Carolina as early as Saturday.

Dangerous surf conditions are the only threat Florence will bring to the Carolinas for at least the next five to six days.

Beachgoers this weekend may want to stay out of the water despite the warm weather. The swells from Florence will create rip currents this weekend into much of next week that could pull even experienced swimmers away from shore.  

Florence became the first major hurricane, or category 3 storm, of the 2018 Atlantic season on Wednesday. It is forecast to fluctuate between category 2 and 3 strength through the upcoming weekend and into early next week.

The forecast track for the storm is still highly uncertain beyond this coming weekend. Everyone from Bermuda to the U.S. East Coast should continue to follow updates on the storm closely.

It should also be pointed out that Florence is not the only system we should watch in the tropics.

An area of storms that moved off the coast of Africa earlier this week has a very good chance of becoming Tropical Storm Helene within the next few days.

There's also a second area of storms just now moving off the coast of Africa that has some chance of tropical development over the next five days.