HOUSTON – Hurricane Helene, now a Category 2 storm, is set to rapidly intensify into a monster storm throughout the day before landfall this evening. In fact, Helene is expected to become a major Category 4 hurricane, and it isn’t out of the question it may be a Cat 5.
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Landfall will be tonight along the panhandle of Florida. The exceptionally warm Gulf Stream waters are fueling its swift intensification. While the forecast cone shows where the center might hit, dangerous impacts will extend far beyond that area, especially inland areas near Tallahassee and even into parts of Georgia.
Impacts to Florida and Georgia:
Let’s start with the storm surge impacts. Our partners at qrisq.com show a high storm surge where the center of the storm hits and to the right of the storm. In this forecast it is in the big bend with a 20′+ surge!
The wind threat is large. Some of the tropical storm-force winds will likely reach the east coast of Florida with hurricane force winds through central Georgia. This graphic maxes out at 111 mph and with a cat 4 or 5 the winds will be stronger.
Rainfall totals ranging from 10 to 13 inches will fall along the storm’s centerline. This will lead to flash flooding on top of the storm surge.
This is going to be a monster. Hopefully all Florida residents in the path of evacuation did indeed evacuate.
