Tropical Storm Florence christened
Tropical Storm Florence (formerly T. D. Six) has been christened in the central Atlantic. Florence (40 mph) is expected to continue strengthening for the next several days as it moves on a WNW track. It's forecast to reach minimal hurricane intensity (75 mph) early Friday a couple of hundred miles northeast of the northern Leeward Islands. By early Sunday, it could be a category two hurricane--some models suggest a category three--with maximum sustained winds near 100 mph about 850 miles southeast of the Carolina coast... and moving toward the northwest.Farther out in the Atlantic, a disturbance trailing Florence by several hundred miles has some potential for further development over the next day or two. A third disturbance, with a low pressure area, has moved off the African coast far to the SSE of the Cape Verde Islands at around 10 degrees north latitude.