We are watching Hurricane Michael as it continues to strengthen in the Caribbean. At this time, the National Hurricane Center has it making landfall as a major hurricane somewhere along the Florida panhandle.
The current track then has Michael moving north and weakening to a tropical storm as it heads toward Virginia. It will eventually be further downgraded to a strong area of low pressure as it moves north of Virginia.
Because it will be moving pretty quickly once it gets to us, any heavy rains should be relatively short-lived and not likely to cause huge flooding problems. Our biggest threat will be the potential of tropical storm force winds of 39 mph or stronger. Exactly what the effects will be here locally will depend on the strength it attains before it hits land, and then the pace of weakening once it travels up the interior Southeast Coast.
SEE ALSO: Hurricane Michael latest forecast
This system will need to be monitored closely for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Tropical storm to hurricane-force winds are less than four days away from the United States.
Stay tuned this coming week and we will carefully monitor Michael and its effects on our area.
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