Pa. meteorologists still monitoring northward track of Florence

Not much has changed in the storm forecast for York County, but meteorologists are keeping a close eye on the path of Hurricane Florence.

Tom Kines, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather in State College, said it looks as if Florence might move a bit farther south than earlier models were showing.

"There’s still the chance that it starts to turn northward from there and affects our weather sometime over the next week," Kines said. 

The National Hurricane Center reported that the hurricane's peak wind speed had decreased slightly from 130 to 125 mph, making it a Category 3 storm.

However, the NHC also said the size of the wind field had increased and the storm is still life-threatening for those in its path.

Craig Evanego, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in State College, said Florence should be at or near the coast of the Carolinas by Thursday night. From there, the storm will likely move slowly inland, possibly pushing some moisture northward.

"If we see anything from Florence, it will probably not be until early next week," he said.

Evanego said some models are predicting the storm will move in a southwesterly direction after making landfall, but it's still too far out to say anything with certainty.

York County spokesman Mark Walters said that based on the most current forecasts, the administration is not planning to activate its emergency operations center, but that could change at a moment's notice if necessary.

"It’s encouraging, but it’s no guarantee that we’re not going to get any rain," Walters said of the forecasts showing the storm moving southwest.

The South Central PA Chapter of the American Red Cross has yet to deploy any local volunteers to Virginia or North and South Carolina, but regional spokeswoman Kim Maiolo said the organization is monitoring the situation.

"We want to make sure we have the needed support here in case that storm does adjust and go farther north," Maiolo said.

Kines said York County can expect mostly dry weather over the next several days and through the weekend, with the possibility of a rain shower here or there. There could even be a break in the clouds and some sunny weather  Saturday and Sunday, he added.