Tropical Storm Helene formed Tuesday morning in the Caribbean Sea and will strengthen fast in the Gulf of Mexico before it strikes Florida on Thursday with howling winds and staggering storm surge, forecasters said.
Helene was 170 miles south-southeast of the western tip of Cuba Tuesday morning and churning northwest at 12 mph.
The National Hurricane Center said Helene would probably hit Florida on Thursday as a Category 3 hurricane. Forecasters warned of dangerous surge and punishing winds in a region battered in recent years from devastating storms.
Hurricane and storm surge watches are in effect for parts of the Florida Gulf Coast, where residents raced to prepare for the fast-moving system.
Models on Tuesday showed the storm would hit just south of Tallahassee, and forecasters said predictions are “tightly clustered” on landfall in Florida. The track could still change slightly.
“It is imperative to not focus on specific landfall locations this far in the future,” the National Hurricane Center said.