Hurricane Helene bearing down on Florida

For the second time this hurricane season, Florida is bracing for a hurricane impact later in the day on Thursday into Thursday night. This time; however, the threat is from a far more substantial hurricane.

Hurricane Helene is currently a category 1 hurricane in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The storm heavily impacted the Yucatan Peninsula earlier today as a category 1, bringing strong winds and flooding rains to the region. Helene will continue to track northward across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico tonight and Thursday. Warm waters, along with a favorable upper level wind pattern and plenty of moisture nearby, will allow Helene to rapidly intensify on approach to the Florida Panhandle.

Unfortunately, the National Hurricane Center is forecasting Helene to be a powerful category 4 hurricane upon approach to the Florida coastline, with sustained winds of at least 130 mph. Storm surge could exceed 20 feet in some locations along the coast, making this an extremely deadly storm. Helene is also a very large hurricane, with the hurricane and tropical storm force wind field extending well away from the center of the storm.

With that said, the entire state of Florida is under a Tropical Storm or Hurricane Warning due to the far reaching impacts of this powerful hurricane. Flash flooding concerns also extend well inland, with the potential for flooding rains from Helene as far north as North Carolina and Tennessee. Storm surge may impact folks as far north and east as South Carolina.

If you know anyone in the potential impact zone for Helene, make sure to check in them to see if they have a plan to protect themselves from this powerful storm before it hits.