File:Limb View of Hurricane Florence (44589289682).png

NOAA's GOES-15 satellite captured this limb view of Hurricane Florence churning through the western Atlantic Ocean at 10 a.m. ET on September 11, 2018. The latest update from the National Hurricane Center shows Florence moving west-northwest around 17 mph, with its forward speed expected to increase over the next 24-48 hours. As of 2 p.m. ET Tuesday, Florence was still a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds near 130 mph, and hurricane-force winds extending 60 mph from the center of its circulation.

Florence is expected to begin re-strengthening later today as it enters the warm waters of the Gulf Stream off the U.S. East Coast. While the storm may weaken as it approaches the coast of the Carolinas, current forecasts suggest that Florence will still be an extremely dangerous storm at landfall. The National Hurricane Center is warning of life-threatening storm surge for areas along the coast, and potentially catastrophic flooding as Florence stalls over the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, where it is expected to dump extremely heavy rainfall over the region.

The GOES-15 satellite is currently NOAA's operational GOES West satellite, which provides geostationary coverage of the United States, western South America and much of the Pacific Ocean, from 22,300 miles above Earth. In this image, Florence appears at the edge of the satellite's coverage area over the western Atlantic Ocean.

Credit: NOAA

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