ORLANDO, Fla. – Hurricane Helene became a Category 4 storm Thursday evening with winds of 130 mph ahead of landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm has been rapidly intensifying over the last few hours from a Category 2.
[RELATED: COUNTY-BY-COUNTY impacts | 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]
As of 6:20 p.m., Helene had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph and was moving north-northeast at 23 mph. It is about 130 miles west of Tampa.
Helene is expected to move fast through landfall this evening, and then turn northwestward and slow down over the Tennessee Valley on Friday and Saturday.
Here is what determines each category for a hurricane:
- Category 1 -- 74 to 95 mph sustained winds
- Category 2 -- 96 to 110 mph sustained winds
- Category 3 -- 111 to 129 mph sustained winds
- Category 4 -- 130 to 156 mph sustained winds
- Category 5 -- 157 mph or higher sustained winds
Helene is a huge storm with tropical storm winds extending more than 310 miles out from its center. Tropical-storm-force wind gusts (30-65 mph) will be possible for Central Florida this evening.
The worst of the weather from Hurricane Helene will take place in the Big Bend, Panhandle region of Florida. As the storm lifts through the Gulf of Mexico, outer bands from Helene will move onshore and push through Central Florida.
[TIMELINE: Here’s when Hurricane Helene will impact Central Florida]
Helene won’t be a big-time rainmaker for Central Florida, but locations that see repeated rounds of rain bands could see close to 4-6 inches of rain by the time Helene moves away.
Watches and warnings have been issued for much of Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday declared a state of emergency for 61 counties, including all of Central Florida.
Since 2000, eight major hurricanes have made landfall in Florida, according to Philip Klotzbach, a Colorado State University hurricane researcher.
In the Atlantic
Tropical Storm Isaac formed Wednesday night in the open central Atlantic.
It could become a hurricane in the next couple of days as it heads east.
In the eastern and central tropical Atlantic, Invest 98L could become a tropical depression in the next day or two as it moves west.
It has a 90% chance of development in the next 48 hours.
The NHC also highlighted an area in the western Caribbean, where an area of low pressure could form by the middle of next week. It has a 20% chance of development in the next seven days.
Hurricane season runs through November.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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