Sept. 26 | Evening Forecast with Chief Meteorologist Ashley Brown

• WISHTV.com interactive radar
• Hurricane Helene to bring unprecedented impact to the southeastern United States

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — We’ve seen cloud cover increase throughout our Thursday, and winds also turned a touch breezy.

This is all foreshadowing a rough Friday ahead with rainy and windy conditions due to Hurricane Helene. Helene, which ramped up to a Category 4 storm on Thursday night , will unfortunately be a very impactful storm system for the southeastern United States.

Thursday night: Hurricane Helene will be making landfall by early Thursday night in Florida. Rain bands well ahead of the system’s center of circulation will spiral toward Indiana in the overnight hours. This time around, we do not have lots of dry air to overcome like with recent systems that short-sided us of rain.

Lows will only drop into the low to mid 60s. Winds will also pick up with gusts exceeding 30 mph at times closer to the predawn hours Friday.

Friday: Expect some difficulty getting through the day, especially if you will be out and about for a longer period of time. Rain will continue to fill in across central Indiana through Friday morning. There will be some steady heavier rain at times. Coverage in activity won’t drop off until Friday night with stuff turning more scattered.

The other issue we are going to deal with is strong winds. A Wind Advisory will be in place from 10 a.m. EDT until 9 p.m. EDT Friday for gusts over 50 mph at times. Power outages will be possible as it will be windy for much of the day. The strongest gusts look to occur in the afternoon and evening hours.

Highs are set to top out in the mid 70s.

High school football games will also be affected as well.

Saturday: Additional showers will wrap into Indiana throughout the day as Helene will stall out south of Indiana.

By the end of the day, total rainfall amounts from Friday through Saturday could be from 1-2 inches across a good amount of central Indiana. Highest amounts will be in the southern third of the state with from 2-4- inches of rain. Locally higher amounts are possible.

Highs will be in the mid 70s.

7-Day Forecast: Some showers will remain possible Sunday and into Monday early next week. Temperatures look to hang around in the mid 70s through next Tuesday to start October. Then, we’ll fall into the upper 60s to low 70s Wednesday. Dry conditions will eventually return to open October as well.