MIDWAY, Fla. (WTXL) -- Tropical Storm Florence is still being impacted by upper-level wind shear a few hundred miles southeast of Bermuda Friday afternoon. The weakening effect is temporary since upper winds are expected to decrease, and the sufficiently warm ocean waters can allow Florence to regain some strength over the weekend. The future path forecast is consistent in maintain a west or west-northwest track, but the long-range outlook is complex. High pressure north of Florence may direct the storm on a westerly course. The more west it goes through next week, the closer it may approach the United States east coast.
Elsewhere in the tropical Atlantic basin:
- A vigorous wave near the Cape Verde Islands has been given the Potential Tropical Cyclone classification, meaning there is a high likelihood it will grow into a depression or storm in the near future. It is thousands of miles from the United States as it is forecast to travel on a west-northwest course through the weekend. Longer-range projections indicate a few days of west-northwest movement, then a turn to the north.
- A second wave of tropical moisture has been steadily moving west-northwest in a somewhat drier part of the atmosphere of the eastern Atlantic. This has a high probability to form into a tropical depression and continue to move west or west-northwest generally toward the Caribbean through early next week.
- A third, but weaker, area of moisture southwest of Bermuda is not forecast to become better organized in the next few days.
