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    • Updated track of storm near Gulf of Florida
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    Updated track of storm near Gulf of Florida

    Vaseline Posted on

    Packing powerful winds of 130 mph (209 km/h), Hurricane Helene is expected to make landfall in Florida on Thursday evening as a devastating Category 4 storm.

    After the system reaches hurricane status on Wednesday, it will bring “a catastrophic and deadly storm surge” to parts of the state’s Big Bend coast, the National Hurricane Center said. Forecasters have warned that Helene will bring devastating waves and flooding that could reach 20 feet above ground level.

    “Winds are expected to weaken after landfall, but Helene’s high speed will allow strong, damaging winds, particularly in gusts, to extend well inland across the southeastern United States, including the higher elevations of the southern Appalachians,” the center said in an 8 p.m. ET update.

    Landfall is likely to reach the eastern portion of the Florida Panhandle Thursday night, according to AccuWeather, as well as the Big Bend area. About 8-12 inches of rain are expected where Helene makes landfall, with some isolated areas potentially getting 2 feet of rain.

    According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Helene’s track includes urban areas such as Tallahassee, Florida, and Atlanta, as well as Asheville, North Carolina.

    Helene’s forecast is one of the ‘most aggressive’ in hurricane history

    Tuesday’s forecast that Helene will rapidly strengthen from a potential tropical cyclone to a Category 3 hurricane appears to be the fastest development ever predicted for a depression by the National Hurricane Center.

    “They’ve never forecast a major hurricane within 60 hours for a disturbance below tropical storm level,” Sam Lillo, a meteorologist and software engineer for DTN Weather, told USA TODAY on Tuesday, based on a computer analysis of the center’s historical forecast data. “The whole forecast is also basically faster than we’ve ever seen for 36 hours and 48 hours of a tropical depression.”

    Helene is the fifth hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season. Thursday night will mark the fifth consecutive year that a major hurricane has struck the U.S. mainland, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

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    Warnings and Alerts in effect for Florida

    Below is a summary of the warnings in effect in Florida.

    Tracker for Hurricane Helene

    Spaghetti Models of Hurricane Helene

    Illustrations include a variety of forecasting tools and models, and not all are created equal. The Hurricane Center uses only the four or five best performing models to make its forecasts.

    Hurricane Helene Livestream

    Watch live as Hurricane Helene moves north along the Gulf Coast of Mexico.

    Contributors: Dinah Voyles Pulver, John Bacon, Cheryl McCloud, Jeff Burlew, Christopher Cann and Jorge L. Ortiz

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