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After undergoing some of the most rapid intensification ever recorded, monster Hurricane Helene made a ferocious landfall late Thursday evening along Florida’s Big Bend – becoming one of the strongest storms ever to strike the continental United States.
According to storm trackers at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Helene officially made landfall at 11:10 p.m. EDT just east of the Aucilla River – approximately 10 miles south-southwest of Perry, Florida.
At landfall, the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour. That made her a strong category four storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. Helene’s central pressure dropped all the way to 938 millibars at landfall – one of the lowest landfall pressures ever recorded.
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This remote Project MesoVort pack captured storm surge racing onshore at Steinhatchee, FL. THIS IS NOT A TIMELAPSE. This is how fast the storm surge is moving. #FLwx pic.twitter.com/1JF6yMqhPm
— RadarOmega (@RadarOmega) September 27, 2024
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The lower the pressure, the stronger the storm – and Helene’s pressure was the lowest recorded by a tropical system since Hurricane Ida slammed into Port Fourchon, Louisiana on August 29, 2021.
Helene became a monster literally overnight. Not event 24 hours prior to landfall, she was a category one storm with 85 mile per hour maximum sustained winds. From the 2:00 a.m. EDT advisory to landfall – a period of just twenty-two hours – she exploded in intensity. Over that time frame, the storm saw its maximum sustained winds strengthen by 55 miles per hour.
That’s almost as rapid as the intensification seen earlier this season from Hurricane Beryl – although that system weakened considerably prior to its landfall as a tropical storm. Helene, by contrast, kept getting stronger right up until the moment she slammed into Florida.
As she came ashore, Helene’s hurricane-force winds extended outward for 60 miles, while her tropical storm-force winds extended outward for 310 miles. That wasn’t quite as big a wind field as some forecasters were calling for, but it was still a massive system that did damage up and down the gulf coast.
Here is a look at the storm as it came ashore…
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As devastating as Helene’s impact was – and will continue to be – things could have been much worse in Florida. Late Wednesday and early Thursday, as the storm moved across the Gulf of Mexico, it was still struggling to define itself. This included the presence of a double eyewall structure – which helped prevent the system from intensifying earlier.
Also, Florida’s capital of Tallahassee – while still hit hard by the storm – seemed to be in line for a disastrous direct hit as Helene approached. However, a last-minute eastward wobble spared the city the worst of its ravages. Had any of those things not happened… Tallahassee could have been an entirely different looking city come Friday morning.
Still, the wind speeds recorded at landfall were the strongest since Hurricane Michael ravaged Florida six years ago – and the storm surges accompanying the storm were poised to break records.
“You need to be right now – just hunkering down,” Florida governor Ron DeSantis said as the storm moved ashore.
Count on this media outlet to continue to track Helene as she begins to wreak havoc inland…
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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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