Hurricane Helene forecast increasingly dire for Florida. Category 4 strength predicted

Hurricane Helene formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and will track toward Florida, where forecasters say it will strike as a monster storm and send dangerous surge and howling winds across much of the state.

On Wednesday afternoon, forecasters upgraded earlier predictions and now say Helene will probably make landfall as a Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds. The storm will hit just south of Tallahassee, forecasters predicted, but the storm is so large that tropical storm and hurricane warnings reach across almost all of Florida.

Some of the state’s Big Bend region could see 15 to 20 feet of storm surge.

Helene was 460 miles southwest of Tampa on Wednesday afternoon, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. Forecasts say it will strengthen fast through the Gulf of Mexico and reach Florida Thursday evening. Fueled by favorable winds and record-warm waters, forecasters said Helene could still strengthen more than predicted.

It will pound a region battered in recent years from devastating storms.

Florida meteorologist Michael Lowry said Helene “is forecast to be one of the largest hurricanes we’ve seen this century over the Gulf.” Forecasters expect Helene’s tropical storm winds to reach almost 430 miles across as it nears Florida, Lowry said in a Wednesday newsletter . Only four named storms this century have reached that size over the Gulf, he said.

MS Coast could get ‘cold front’

South Mississippi is forecast to avoid Helene’s fury, and forecasters said no significant impacts are expected in the region.

Instead, the storm could bring a “cold front,” the National Weather Service in Slidell said.

Helene will batter Florida with hurricane-force winds from the Gulf. But winds that churn counterclockwise around Helene will blow dry, cool air toward Mississippi and lower heat and humidity Thursday and Friday, said Jacob Zeringue, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Slidell.

The winds could also cool temperatures to the 70s and low 80s, especially in the mornings.

The incoming cold front could send scattered thunderstorms across the Mississippi Coast Wednesday afternoon and evening, the National Weather Service said. A strong storm gusting 40 mph winds and dropping nickel-size hail near Slidell was forecast to rumble through Hancock County Wednesday afternoon.

Helene could send 10 to 15 mph winds to South Mississippi this week, Zeringue said. Gusts could create choppy waves for boaters on Thursday in the Mississippi Sound, which is under a small craft advisory.

But the worst impacts will come east of Helene’s landfall, and winds in Mississippi should slow by Friday.

“We’re pretty lucky,” Zeringue said.

Helene will pound southeast

Helene will quickly move north through Georgia, forecasters said. It could stall near the Tennessee Valley late Friday, and could send strong winds and dump heavy rain over much of the southeast U.S.

Hurricane and tropical storm warnings extend through southern Georgia.

Get the Sun Herald's AM Newsletter