Hurricane Helene is set to make landfall as a major storm in Florida on Thursday evening, bringing rain and damaging wind to Georgia.
UPDATE [11:25 a.m.]: National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Nadler said on the AJC’s Politically Georgia podcast Thursday morning that Helene is unique because of its size and speed.
It will likely hit the Atlanta area late Thursday night into Friday morning after it makes landfall in Florida this evening.
”It’s a very intense, powerful hurricane,” Nadler said. “It is going to weaken as it moves inland, but because it’s moving so quickly, as it gets into Georgia and approaches the Atlanta metro area, the winds are still going to be really intense later tonight into tomorrow morning.”
He encouraged people to stay home and off the roads and to be prepared to lose power. With the storm’s speed, it will likely move through Georgia rapidly and intensely.
”The duration of the real intense threats with the wind and around the center of Helene should be in and out within a couple of hours,” Nadler said. “The magnitude of what we see in that two to three or four-hour window could be really intense.”