Tropical Storm Florence forms in eastern Atlantic; Where is it headed next?

Tropical Storm Florence formed near the Cabo Verde Islands early Saturday morning.

The Cabo Verde Islands are located over the eastern Atlantic, off the coast of Africa and are sometimes the breeding ground for tropical storms.

A batch of showers and thunderstorms pushed westward from Africa and became Tropical Depression 6 on Friday afternoon. As AccuWeather predicted, the depression strengthened to a tropical storm early Saturday.

Small craft should remain in port and bathers should stay out of the water surrounding Cabo Verde until Florence moves away by Monday.

As the storm moves across the islands and beyond, gradual strengthening is forecast.

"There is the potential for the storm to become the next hurricane of the season as it turns northwestward on a path for the middle of the Atlantic Ocean next week," AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski said.

"During next week, Florence will likely spend considerable time over the middle of the Atlantic, away from land, in a zone with warm water and minimal disruptive winds," Kottlowski added.

During the second week of the month, the path of the storm is wide open.

Florence could be picked up by a non-tropical storm and carried northeastward toward Iceland, the British Isles or western Europe or could miss that connection and wander westward toward Bermuda, Atlantic Canada or New England at mid-month.

Sept. 10 marks the average peak of the Atlantic hurricane season.

"It is possible we could have anywhere from one to perhaps as many as four organized tropical systems across the Atlantic basin by the end of the first week of September," Kottlowski said.

One such feature may affect the Gulf of Mexico coast during early September.

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