Good morning everyone! Man, what a Tropical Storm that is brewing in the South Gulf right now. What is our 8th named Tropical Storm for this season, Helene continues to grow and intensify into what looks to be a major hurricane that will wreck havoc on Florida’s west coast right around the Big Bend. All of the models now show Helene to have barometric pressures in the 940-950 millibars, signifying the likelihood of her becoming at least a Cat 3 and possibly a Cat 4 hurricane at landfall. Barometric pressure of a hurricane is directly related to its strength. Because wind is created by differences of pressure, the lower the pressure compared to the pressure around it, the higher the winds.
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- Category 1: Pressure greater than 979 millibars (mb)
- Category 2: Pressure between 965 and 979 mb
Category 3: Pressure between 945 and 964 mb
Category 4: Pressure between 920 and 944 mb
- Category 5: Pressure less than 920 mb
Depending on the exact tract of Helene, we may even see some rainfall from the outer bands as Helene will be a Tropical Depression as its moisture is “slingshotted” into the Midwest by what is called the Fujiwhara effect we talked about yesterday. Florida is bracing for a looks to be a very dangerous storm. Mandatory evacuations are ongoing as well as a State of Emergency has been declared by the Governor of Florida. They are expecting wide spread flooding due to possible record storm surge as well as winds up to 150mph. Here are several models showing the consistency of potential strengths based on barometric pressures and location. Have a great day. Subby
- Category 1: Pressure greater than 979 millibars (mb)
