Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine Expected to Become Hurricane Helene, Threatening Southeast US
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has begun posting advisories on Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine, which is expected to become Tropical Storm Helene later today or tonight.
Tropical Storm Helene is anticipated to form in the Northwest Caribbean later today or tonight. It is then forecast to strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches an area stretching from the Florida Panhandle through West Central Florida on Thursday. Helene could intensify to a Category 2 or 3 hurricane, likely producing a large wind field and inflicting significant wind, storm surge, and rainfall impacts across a broad area of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
The NHC forecasts an area of disorganized thunderstorms to become better organized and form a center of circulation in the Northwest Caribbean Sea later today or tonight. The system, which would likely be named Helene, is forecast to track through the Yucatan Channel before becoming a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.
