Famous storm chaser leaves Mississippi Coast fortress for a date with Hurricane Helene

For storm chaser and Mississippi Coast resident Josh Morgerman, Buc-ee’s is one of his favorite places to stop for hurricane snacks.

The megastore in Pass Christian isn’t open just yet, but luckily for Morgerman, he was able to stop at the Alabama location en route to Florida to track Hurricane Helene .

Morgerman, known across the world as iCyclone, lives a few blocks off the beach in Bay St. Louis and left the Mississippi Coast on Tuesday for Florida’s Big Bend region, which is expected to get the worst impact from the storm.

Helene became Category 1 hurricane in the Caribbean Sea Wednesday morning and may undergo rapid intensification in the Gulf of Mexico before landfall Thursday night as a major hurricane. Heavy rains, catastrophic storm surge, flooding and wind damage are expected.

Helene’s east side is expected to be extremely powerful, and it may become one of the largest hurricanes on record since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, according to weather experts.

Morgerman travels to the corners of the world and has documented some of the worst cyclones and hurricanes in history. He often records video live from inside the eye of storms and good friends with notable meteorologists, including Jim Cantore, who was at Morgerman’s housewarming party this summer. The custom-built home could withstands winds from a Cat 5 hurricane.

Helene will be the next notch in Morgerman’s storm belt.

“A dangerous situation is developing,” he said on X Wednesday afternoon, adding that models show an aggressive hurricane moving fast over land, bringing hurricane winds well inland.

Morgerman encouraged Floridians to play close attention to Helene, finish emergency plans today and evacuate if needed.

A hurricane warning is in effect for the Big Bend region along Florida’s Gulf Coast, and much of the state is under a tropical storm watch as of 11 a.m. Wednesday.