UPDATE
Sep 26, 2024 2:12 PM CDT
Hurricane Helene is right on schedule as northwestern Florida braces for an evening landfall. The potentially catastrophic storm was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane Thursday afternoon as it churned through the Gulf of Mexico, reports the AP. Helene already had sustained winds of 120mph, per CNN, and forecasters say it could ramp up to a Category 4 with winds of 130mph before making landfall.
Sep 26, 2024 12:00 AM CDT
Hurricane Helene is now expected to make landfall in Florida Thursday as a Category 4 storm. That level of "catastrophic" strength, per CNN, is higher than forecasters were predicting earlier, when Helene was expected to definitely hit Category 3, but only possibly hit Category 4. Wind speeds are now likely to hit at least 130mph by Thursday afternoon, and "additional strengthening is possible" just before landfall, the National Hurricane Center warns. Storm surge could hit 20 feet along certain areas on the coast, leading to this warning from the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Fox News reports: "There is increasing confidence of Catastrophic and/or potentially Unsurvivable storm surge for Apalachee Bay."
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia have all declared states of emergency ahead of the storm, which will be the strongest hurricane to hit the US in more than a year and possibly one of the biggest in the Gulf of Mexico over the past 100 years. It is expected to cast a sprawling net of severe weather conditions across the southeastern part of the country, with a wind field wide enough to reach from Washington, DC, to Indianapolis. Evacuations have already been ordered, widespread power outages and flooding are expected, air travel will be disrupted, and a tornado is even possible. (More Hurricane Helene stories.)
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