ORLANDO, Fla. – Hurricane Helene continues to strengthen and is now a major Category 4 hurricane ahead of reaching Florida’s Big Bend region.
After struggling with its eye structure through the early Thursday morning hours, Helene was able to reorganize its center, allowing for the storm to rapidly intensify over the last few hours.
Due to the sheer size of Helene, tropical storm force wind gusts extend out 310 miles from its center, meaning Central Florida is dealing with strong wind gusts.
A tornado watch for all of Central Florida has been extended to 6 a.m. Friday.
The hurricane is expected to be larger than about 90% of all other storms that have formed in the last 20 years, according to the National Hurricane Center.
[RELATED: CONE, MODELS, SATELLITE | TIMELINE: When Helene will impact Central Fla. | Here’s what the ‘dirty side’ of a storm means | LIVE RADAR | DOWNLOAD: WKMG-TV free hurricane app]
Helene won’t be a big-time rainmaker for Central Florida, but locations that see repeated rounds of rainbands could see close to 4-6 inches of rain by the time Helene moves away.
Here’s what to expect in each county:
Brevard County
Flagler County
Lake County
Marion County
Orange County
Osceola County
Polk County
Seminole County
Sumter County
Volusia County
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