Hurricane Helene Continues to Intensify as it Heads Toward Florida

There is no denying it now. Hurricane Helene is headed straight toward the Florida Gulf Coast. Here is the latest on the projected landfall of this major hurricane slated for Thursday.

Latest on Hurricane Helene

As of the midday Wednesday update from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Helene was spinning as a Category 1 hurricane with sustained wind speeds of 80 mph as it moves deeper into the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane warnings are now in effect for the Big Bend area of Florida while tropical storms have been issued for nearly all of the Florida coastline. The exception to this is the western edge of the panhandle region. There are also tropical warnings in place for the coastline of Georgia and the majority of the South Carolina coastal areas.

As the imminent landfall inches closer, meteorologists are growing more certain that the Big Bend area of the Florida Gulf Coast will take a direct strike from Helene. This region encompasses the eastern fringe of the panhandle and down into the northwestern corner of the peninsula, hence the designation of the "big bend" of the state.

The latest predictions indicate that Helene's eye will pass between Mexico Beach and Horseshoe Beach. This is the same general area that has sustained several hurricane strikes in recent years. The eye of the storm is also expected to pass directly over the state capital of Tallahassee as it moves farther inland.

While there is still a chance that the storm could track a bit farther west than anticipated, forecasters believe that this will not be the case. The steering breezes in this part of the Gulf of Mexico are currently not wavering.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expanded his initial state of emergency to now include 61 of the state's 67 counties. Only the southeastern corner of the Sunshine State is not under this declaration.