On August 30, a vigorous tropical wave entered the Atlantic from the west African coastline. While the system was initially large and disorganized, its center became much better defined over the next couple of days. The low passed just south of the Cape Verde Islands on the 31st, bringing some heavy rain and winds. Around the same time, it was classified Tropical Depression Six. Ocean temperatures were only marginal for development, but wind shear was very low and the air surrounding the system quite humid (any Saharan dry air was well to the north). Because of this, the cyclone strengthened as it moved west-northwestward away from the islands, becoming Tropical Storm Florence early on September 1.
Some more intensification occurred that evening, but wind shear out of the southwest suddenly exposed the center of circulation on September 2 and the system weakened slightly. As Florence continued on its west-northwest heading over the open central Atlantic, sea surface temperatures began to warm beneath it. Overnight, the system developed an inner core and strengthened into a strong tropical storm. However, even as temperatures warmed, wind shear increased also and the satellite presentation became a bit ragged. Nevertheless, Florence held its own on the 3rd and approached hurricane strength when a central dense overcast appeared. In defiance of almost all models and forecasts, the system continued to intensify on September 4 and became a hurricane. It turned a bit toward the northwest that evening and an eye became apparent on satellite imagery. The next morning, the eye became better defined and cleared out further. Florence was then upgraded to a category 3 hurricane, the first major hurricane of the 2018 season.
That afternoon, the cyclone peaked as a category 4 hurricane with winds of 130 mph and a minimum pressure of 953 mb before wind shear out of the southwest finally began to take its toll. The southern eyewall thinned and then broke under the shear, the inner core became disrupted, and Florence lost major hurricane status on September 6. Rapid weakening continued throughout the day, and the center nearly became exposed from time to time overnight as the system weakened back to a tropical storm. Meanwhile, mid-level ridging to the north of Florence turned the shallower system back toward the west on September 7. The weakening trend halted that afternoon as shear began to abate and convection gradually worked its way back over the center. But while waters were warm and upper-level winds were more favorable, the circulation had ingested some dry air that it struggled to mix out through the day of September 8. Nevertheless, it approached hurricane strength once again by that evening.
The next day, deeper convection blossomed near the center and hints of an eye reappeared. Florence regained category 1 status that morning and began a process of rapid intensification. This process really accelerated when a symmetrical eye appearing late on September 9. By the afternoon on the 10th, the system was a dangerous category 4, surpassing its earlier peak intensity to reach a new peak of 140 mph winds and a central pressure of 939 mb. Meanwhile, a very strong subtropical ridge began building to its north and Florence turned west-northwest with a greater forward speed. Overnight, the core underwent an eyewall replacement as the small inner eyewall collapsed in favor of a broader outer one. This took some time to consolidate, leaving Florence with a lopsided appearance on infrared imagery. However, the new eyewall eventually closed off and the system maintained category 4 strength. Moreover, eyewall replacement cycles usually are accompanied by a broadening of the wind field; this held true for Florence. Its tropical storm force and hurricane force wind radii increased markedly by September 12.
By September 13, the maximum winds had decreased to category 2 strength, but the system had grown considerably. Its outer bands began to sweep across the coast of southeastern North Carolina that morning. Florence's speed slowed during the day and it stalled off the coastline. That evening, it turned toward the west and ultimately made landfall overnight as a category 1 hurricane. Even as the storm weakened, torrential rains continued to fall over much of coastal North Carolina and pushed into South Carolina on September 14. Florence became a tropical storm that day and the center crossed the border into South Carolina over land. As the circulation spun down, the core lost much of its strength, but the portion of the storm still over water to the northeast of the center was still dragging immense amounts of tropical moisture over coastal North Carolina on September 15. Along with the flooding rains came intermittent tornadoes reported in the northeast part of the circulation.
Overnight, Florence weakened to a tropical depression and finally began to pick up some speed inland toward the west and then north through Appalachia. By September 17, the system turned northeast under the influence of the mid-latitude westerlies and rains spread eastward into the mid-Atlantic, though nowhere near as severe as they had been in the Carolinas. The low pressure center of Florence became elongated later that day and the system finally transitioned to post-tropical near West Virginia. Soon, the remnants moved eastward over the Atlantic. The extratropical successor to Florence eventually spawned a new low in the subtropical Atlantic that would become Leslie. Even well after the storm had passed, river flooding continued for the Carolinas. Florence's devastating rainfall, totaling over 30 inches in parts of coastal North Carolina, made it among the costliest tropical cyclones ever recorded.
The above image shows Florence near peak intensity as a category 4 hurricane.
Florence's track was highly unusual. In a vast majority of instances, cyclones that traversed the Atlantic at the latitude that Florence did would recurve out to sea before hitting land. However, very strong subtropical ridges steered the storm into the Carolinas.
