Nicole heads up East Coast after 4 deaths in Florida
Nicole made landfall as a hurricane Thursday morning.
Nicole made landfall along Florida's east coast as a Category 1 hurricane early Thursday before weakening to a tropical depression later that night.
It was the second-latest hurricane landfall in a calendar year on record in the United States.
Nicole formed as a subtropical storm in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean on Monday, becoming the 14th named storm of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, which ends later this month.
Latest headlines:
38,000 without power in Florida ahead of Nicole's landfall
More than 38,000 customers in Florida were without power early Thursday, ahead of Hurricane Nicole's landfall, according to data collected by PowerOutage.us.
-ABC News’ Robinson Perez
Latest forecast as Nicole approaches Florida
Hurricane Nicole is approaching Florida as a large Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
The latest forecast shows Nicole touching down along Florida's east coast after midnight but before sunrise, with one model estimating landfall between Cocoa Beach and Fort Pierce at 4 a.m. local time, although projections can change.
Hurricane warnings have been issued from West Palm Beach north to Daytona Beach, with tropical storm warnings extending inland from Miami through Tallahassee, and even extending into parts of southern Georgia and coastal South Carolina.
-ABC News' Riley Winch
Nicole strengthens into Category 1 hurricane
Nicole strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday evening while making landfall on Grand Bahama, the northernmost island of the Bahamas archipelago, according to the National Weather Service. The storm currently has maximum winds of 75 miles per hour.
Latest forecast
Nicole may strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane before making landfall overnight near Fort Pierce. Over the next 24 hours, the biggest threats for Florida will be damaging beach erosion, storm surge up to 5 feet, isolated tornadoes and wind gusts around 70 mph.
Hurricane warnings are in effect from West Palm Beach to Daytona Beach. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for much of Florida and extend up to coastal Georgia and South Carolina.
After landfall, Nicole will quickly weaken as it moves across central Florida and the Panhandle, but it'll bring rain, powerful winds and storm surge.
Three feet to 5 feet of storm surge is expected from West Palm Beach to Jacksonville while Florida’s Big Bend area could see 2 to 4 feet of storm surge.
The heaviest rain -- 8 inches -- will hit central Florida. Flash flooding is also possible.
As Nicole moves north, the heavy rain will stretch into the Mid-Atlantic and New England. Pennsylvania to Vermont could see 2 to 4 inches of rain. Philadelphia, New York City and Boston could see 2 inches of rain and gusty winds.
-ABC News’ Melissa Griffin
Disney World parks to close
Disney World parks will close early Wednesday evening and will remain closed through Thursday morning due to the storm.