No, the eye of Helene did not move drastically east. Hurricane still targeting Big Bend of Florida

ORLANDO, Fla. – With all eyes on Hurricane Helene, Floridians on the Gulf Coast and in Central Florida (located on the dirty side of the storm) are on edge to see the impacts that the storm will bring.

Earlier Thursday, many people took to social media to suggest that the storm’s eye had pivoted east, wondering if the storm could come ashore further south in Florida.

[RELATED: CONE, MODELS, SATELLITE | COUNTY-BY-COUNTY impacts | TIMELINE: When Helene will impact Central Fla. | Here’s what the ‘dirty side’ of a storm means | LIVE RADAR | Watch vs. Warning | DOWNLOAD: WKMG-TV free hurricane app]

News 6 meteorologist Jonathan Kegges showcased on his livestream that dry air to the east of the storm’s center was mistaken for a possible new eye and that the track toward the Big Bend was still the likely route of the storm.

A short time later, the National Hurricane Center posted a similar sentiment on X, saying, “As #Helene continues to approach the coast, please do not get overly focused on short-term wobbles in its track, “false” eye locations, or on specific computer model simulations. EVERYONE along the Florida Big Bend coast is at risk of potentially catastrophic storm surge and damaging hurricane-force winds later this evening, and life-threatening storm surge is already increasing along the west coast of Florida. Continue to follow http://hurricanes.gov and http://weather.gov/socialmedia for the latest forecast.”

The NHC later posted, “For some ragged hurricane eyes, the actual center position may not be where it seems on satellite imagery. This is why we also rely on the Hurricane Hunters and radar data.”

Helene is currently projected to strike Florida as early as later Thursday. It is currently a category 3 storm, a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph.

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