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Florida is preparing for the strongest storm to hit the continental United States in more than a year – with forecasters projecting the landfall of future Hurricane Helene sometime late Thursday as a category three system on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.
Category three storms have maximum sustained winds of 111 to 130 miles per hour, and have the potential to do catastrophic damage due to their punishing winds and elevated storm surges.
Assuming those forecasts hold, Helene would be the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the states since Hurricane Idalia last August. Idalia made landfall in Keaton Beach, Florida at 7:45 a.m. EDT on August 30, 2023 packing maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour and storm surges of up to twelve feet.
As of 5:00 p.m. EDT, Helene – currently a tropical storm – was located at at latitude 19.7° N, longitude 84.7° W, or approximately 150 miles south of the western tip of Cuba. The system was packing maximum sustained winds of 50 miles per hour and headed west-northwest at 12 miles per hour, per the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami.
Here is a look at the system as it continues to develop over the gulf…
(Click to view)
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“A turn toward the northwest is expected tonight, followed by a general northward motion beginning on Wednesday and continuing through Friday,” NHC forecasters noted. “On the forecast track, the center of Helene will pass near the northeastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, move across the eastern Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and Thursday, and reach the Big Bend coast of Florida late Thursday.”
Helene is expected to undergo “rapid intensification” as it moves past the Yucatan peninsula overnight and early tomorrow. Rapid intensification occurs when a storm’s maximum sustained winds increase by at least 35 miles per hour over a 24-hour period.
“The storm is forecast to rapidly strengthen over the eastern Gulf of Mexico and become a major hurricane on Thursday,” NHC forecasters warned.
In anticipation of Helene’s impending arrival, hurricane warnings have been issued for a huge swath of Florida’s gulf coast – stretching from Mexico Beach (22 miles southwest of Panama City) all the way to the Anclote River just north of Clearwater.
That’s more than 300 miles of Florida coastline currently under a hurricane warning – and with good reason. According to NHC forecasters, parts of the gulf coast could experience storm surges as high as fifteen feet.
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The breadth of warnings associated with Helene is not only due to its projected strength – but also its size. Already, tropical storm-force winds extend outward from the center of its circulation for 175 miles. Some forecasters are projecting this tropical storm-force wind field to expand to 400 miles by the time Helene approaches the Florida coast.
In anticipation of Helene’s arrival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 41 of the Sunshine State’s 67 counties.
“As always, Florida will prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” DeSantis wrote on X.
Georgia governor Brian Kemp also declared a state of emergency so as to allow “emergency management teams to prepare for and direct resources well in advance of the storm’s arrival.” The looming storm could also impact a pivotal Major League Baseball (MLB) series between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets, who are scheduled to play the next three nights at Truist Park in Cumberland, Georgia.
New York leads Atlanta by two games in the National League (NL) wild card standings and could clinch a postseason berth by winning two of three against their NL east rival – assuming those games are played.
Meanwhile, back in Florida, NASA announced it was delaying the scheduled launch of its SpaceX Crew-9 mission “due to expected tropical storm conditions in the area.”
Keep it tuned to FITSNews and our new weather section as we track the tropics ahead of Helene’s impending arrival…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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2 comments
Prayers for all potentially-impacted by the storms path ….
How many more insurers will bail on Florida?