Weather Insider: Tracking Hurricane Helene
The First Alert Weather Team is very closely monitoring Hurricane Helene and its imminent impacts on the United States. As of 5 PM Wednesday, Helene is a category 1 hurricane and has entered the Gulf of Mexico.
Helene is expected to grow in both size and strength in the coming hours as it moves through the Gulf of Mexico. There is little in the way of the storm. Low wind shear and warm water temperatures will allow the storm to grow and strengthen rapidly. The storm will undergo Rapid Intensification. Depending on when this process begins, how long it lasts, and how much it rapidly intensifies will determine the strength of the storm at landfall. Right now, the National Hurricane Center is predicting Helene will make landfall in Northern Florida as a category 4 storm Friday evening.
The graphic below shows the active watches and warnings across the state, storm surge forecasts, spaghetti models, and the forecast cone (as of 5 PM Wednesday). Keep in mind that the cone shows where the eye of the storm could possibly go, NOT the extent of the damage of the storm.
Much of the state is under a Tropical Storm Warning as denoted by the darker red color. Hurricane Warnings are in effect for much of the Big Bend region and Georgia as denoted by the red-orange color. The bright colors against the coast denote the areas with the strongest storm surge risks. The spaghetti plots are largely in agreement that the FL Panhandle will take the brunt of the impacts of the storm. Some small movements in the exact trajectory are expected, so we will track the storm closely.
