The storm has been downgraded to category 2, but is expected to remain ‘powerful’ with winds of up to 105mph

What to expect next from Hurricane Dorian

Hurricane Dorian was slowly moving up the United States’ south-eastern coast on Wednesday, after pummeling the Bahamas with deadly force.

'Pray for us': Bahamas residents tell of terror as Hurricane Dorian hit Read more

Though the slow-moving, powerful storm was downgraded to a category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale on Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said Dorian was “expected to remain a powerful hurricane”, with winds of up to 105mph extending up to 60 miles from the eye.

While it was blowing and very wet in north-east Florida on Wednesday morning, the Carolinas are now braced to feel the brunt of the continuing tempest in the coming days.

It has proved particularly difficult to forecast Dorian’s path, but here’s what the NHC is expecting during the next few days:

Wednesday

The center of Hurricane Dorian is slowly brushing past Florida and Georgia today, getting “dangerously close” to the states’ eastern coasts. The storm is about 50 miles offshore of Florida’s north-east.

While Dorian has decreased in strength since it devastated the Bahamas, the storm’s wind field has grown, meaning it will cover a wider area.

The NHC warns that residents on the eastern coasts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas should brace for the possibility of “destructive winds, flooding rains and life-threatening storm surges” over the next few days.

Thursday

By Thursday, the storm is projected to be close to South Carolina and North Carolina.

The NHC says the center of Dorian is forecasted to move “near or over the coast” of the Carolinas as early as Thursday.

Dorian’s track is nearly parallel to the coast of the Carolinas, and “any deviation of the left of the track” could mean the Carolina’s could be directly hit by the storm’s center.

Friday and beyond