ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Hurricane Florence is much stronger Wednesday, but the great news is that it’s nowhere near land at this time.

It won’t be near land over the next five days, but after that, it will need to be watched as it could come close to the eastern seaboard of the U.S. about a week from now. It’s way too early to speculate where it might ultimately go. 

This is one of the few times where it would be a positive to see Florence stay really strong the next few days, because the stronger it is, the more likely it will be to move farther north rather than west.

The farther north Florence gets the better chance it has of missing the U.S. That is something we will be watching. 

Gordon still a rainmaker

Now a tropical depression, Gordon is weakening as it moves inland over Mississippi.

Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 35 mph with higher gusts in a few squalls near the center. Additional weakening is expected as Gordon moves farther inland.

Heavy rains and flooding will continue to be a concern for the Florida panhandle and parts of the Southeast today.

The coastal watches and warnings have been discontinued.

Water levels along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast will gradually subside this morning.

Gordon is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 4 to 8 inches over the western Florida Panhandle, parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

This rainfall will cause flash flooding across portions of these areas.

The remnants of Gordon will move north-northeast this weekend and heavy rain will spread to the Midwest.

Death in the Panhandle

A child in the Florida panhandle was killed Tuesday night as Tropical Storm Gordon approached the Central Gulf Coast.

The storm made landfall just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border around 10 p.m.

But the winds and rain did not spare the panhandle.

A tree fell on a mobile home in Pensacola, killing a child inside. No one else was hurt.

What's next?

Off the coast of Africa there is a tropical wave that will likely develop into the next tropical storm.

When it develops though, it will also be nowhere near land for at least 5 days, so we’ll just watch it to see if will ever get close to land.