Weather will start to deteriorate Wednesday night and turn into tropical storm-like conditions for Lee County as Tropical Storm Helene passes through the Gulf of Mexico.
The system is expected to grow into a hurricane and make landfall near the Big Bend area late Thursday.
Onshore winds are expected to be in the 40-to-50 mile per hour range during the height of activity Thursday.
Storm surge appears to be the biggest threat for Lee County as the National Weather Service is calling for an additional 3 to 5 feet of ocean water to wash onto the landscape. Barrier island communities Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel will likely get the worst of it.
Surge is expected to affect areas along the Caloosahatchee River as well as Cape Coral and Pine Island, but water heights will not likely reach 5 feet.
Conditions will deteriorate on Wednesday
Rain bands will start to work their way onshore in Lee County Wednesday afternoon.
“Thursday afternoon into the evening will the greatest threat to the Lee County coastline,” said Eric Oglesby, a meteorologist with NWS in Ruskin. “It’s not necessarily the proximity but the winds as the storm passes and then you get the surge onshore. It is a fast-moving storm, so overnight Thursday they’ll be elevated but the highest surge will be early afternoon to evening.”