Tropical Storm Helene to strike Florida

Tropical Storm Helene in the western Caribbean is set to become a major hurricane for Florida this week.

Tropical Storm Helene is currently in the Caribbean. By Wednesday 25th September local time, after a very slow start in its development and organisation, it will take a northward turn, entering the warm Gulf of Mexico.

This is when the system will be intensifying, possibly rapidly, and moving faster toward Florida.

Helene is a large system, with impacts set to extend 200 miles from the centre of the system.

The size of Helen will mean a significant storm surge along Florida's West Coast, perhaps as high as 12 feet (4 metres) locally.

Much of the Florida Peninsula could experience tropical storm-force winds at some point between Wednesday and Thursday, with hurricane-force winds in the south-west. The risk of tornadoes embedded within the system's rain bands too.

Over 200 mm of rain could fall along the Panhandle and Northern Florida, perhaps locally in excess of 300 mm, bringing a severe flood risk on top of the storm surge.

Helene could be one of the costliest records if the storm makes landfall closer to Tampa Bay due to low elevation and low-lying homes, and dense population making it vulnerable to catastrophic impacts of storm surge.

Significant uncertainty still surrounds Helene's exact track, which would then alter the potential impacts.

Weather reporter Jonathan Petramala, over in the US, explains more in the video linked below.