WATCH: Frying Pan Web Cam Shows Hurricane Florence Off North Carolina Coast

(CBS) -- Hurricane Florence is bearing down on the East Coast, and a web cam Thursday morning is capturing the initial fury of the storm.

The camera is positioned on a lighthouse called The Frying Pan Tower. It is a Coast Guard station located 34 miles off the coast of North Carolina.

Some fast facts about Hurricane Florence:

Florence was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane late Wednesday night as it approached North and South Carolina.

The storm is still forecast to be an "extremely dangerous major hurricane when it nears the U.S. coast late Thursday and Friday," the National Hurricane Center (NHC) says.

As of 8 a.m. ET, the NHC said Florence was centered about 170 miles east-southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina, and about 220 miles east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

It was moving northwest at about 12 mph with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph