Potential Hurricane Helene continues to strengthen and will deliver potential tropical storm winds and heavy rain to Northeast Florida by late this week.
The storm was about 170 miles south-southeast of the western tip of Cuba as of 11 a.m. Tuesday. It had most sustained winds of 45 mph and was transferring northwest at about 12 mph.
An identical motion is predicted throughout the subsequent 24 hours, however the system shall be gaining energy. It was named Tropical Storm Helene in an 11 a.m. replace from the Nationwide Hurricane Heart.
As soon as the system enters the Gulf of Mexico it’s going to journey over very heat waters and there received’t be a lot to cease it.
The Nationwide Hurricane Heart warns that this method may quickly intensify and change into a Class 3 hurricane because it strikes over the japanese Gulf of Mexico.
A tropical storm warning was in impact for Dry Tortugas and the Decrease Keys west of the Seven Mile Bridge. Watches will proceed to be issued in a single day and into Tuesday, particularly throughout the West Coast of Florida.
As soon as over the japanese Gulf of Mexico, the system won’t solely intensify, however it’s going to acquire ahead pace. A quicker northward to north-northeast course is predicted on Wednesday and Thursday.
Helene impacts
Any shift to the monitor, both west or east, would change the impacts for the state. A shift west would deliver lesser impacts, and a shift to the east would deliver extra influence to Florida.
The biggest storm surge is predicted from Southwest Florida by way of the west coast of the state, together with the Tampa Bay space. Underneath the present monitor, there might be areas that have better than 9 toes of storm surge, particularly throughout Matagorda Bay, the Tampa Bay space and the Huge Bend.
For Southwest Florida as much as 3 toes of storm surge is feasible below the present monitor.
It’s nonetheless early to pinpoint the precise rainfall for this method. At the moment, the best rainfall would fall between the Florida Panhandle and the Huge Bend space. However this additionally contains North Florida, the place there might be as much as 8 inches of rain.
Two to 4 inches of rain are forecast in Northeast Florida. Tropical storm-force winds — that means a minimum of 39 mph — are anticipated to reach right here throughout the day Thursday.
Have in mind the system shall be transferring a lot quicker than different latest tropical methods. Due to this fact, rainfall isn’t anticipated to be as heavy, however nonetheless, remember that the bottom has been very saturated throughout the Panhandle of Florida in latest weeks and flooding will quickly happen.
The west coast of Florida additionally shall be coping with the chance of flash floods because the heaviest bands will transfer by way of the world from Tuesday night by way of Friday morning.
Anticipate tropical storm-force winds to start throughout the Keys as early as Wednesday morning. By Wednesday night, all of South Florida together with Southwest Florida might be experiencing storm-force winds, and winds will propagate by way of the state, northward, and intensify in a single day into Thursday.
The strongest winds shall be close to the attention wall and to the suitable of the storm. The wind area shall be giant, due to this fact, a lot of Central Florida by way of North Florida may really feel a minimum of tropical storm-force winds and a few spots will take care of hurricane force-winds because the storm approaches the coast on Thursday afternoon
Please ensure that to complete your preparations by Wednesday afternoon if you’re north of Lake Okeechobee. If you’re south, end them by Wednesday morning.
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