Track Hurricane Helene: Watch the predicted path of this "catastrophic" storm as Florida gets ready

Sep 26, 2024 - 13:51
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Track Hurricane Helene: Watch the predicted path of this "catastrophic" storm as Florida gets ready

Hurricane Helene is predicted to hit shore late Thursday in Florida as a powerful Category 4 storm with gusts of up to 130 mph.

The National Hurricane Center predicts that the system, which intensified into a hurricane on Wednesday, will bring "a catastrophic and deadly storm surge" to portions of the state's Big Bend coast. Forecasters have alerted people to the possibility of damaging waves and floods up to 20 feet above ground due to Hurricane Helene.

"Weakening is expected after landfall, but Helene's fast forward speed will allow strong, damaging winds, especially in gusts, to penetrate well inland across the southeastern United States, including over the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians," the center said in an 8 p.m. ET update.

Landfall will most likely reach the eastern part of the Florida Panhandle late Thursday, according to AccuWeather, as well as the Big Bend area. Around 8-12 inches of rain are expected where Helene makes landfall with some isolated areas possibly facing 2 feet of rain.

Helene's path includes urban areas like Tallahassee, Florida, and Atlanta, as well as Asheville, North Carolina, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Helene's forecast one of the 'most aggressive' in hurricane history

The forecast of Helene's rapid intensification from a potential tropical cyclone to a Category 3 hurricane as of Tuesday appeared to be the fastest progression ever predicted for a depression by the National Hurricane Center.

“They had 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 entire forecast is also basically faster than has ever been seen for 36 hours and 48 hours from a tropical depression.”

Helene is the fifth hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season. By late Thursday it will be make it the fifth consecutive year that a major hurricane hits the U.S. mainland, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

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