Helene became a category 3 hurricane on the afternoon of this Thursday as it traveled through the Gulf of Mexico towards the northern coast of Florida.
At 2:25 p.m. (local time), Air Force hurricane hunters identified sustained maximum winds of 195 km/h. The phenomenon has increased its forward speed to 32 km/h.
A recent publication from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned about the considerable increase in winds on the west coast of the state.
Helene, which reached category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale on Thursday morning, will continue to strengthen over the warm waters of the Gulf before making landfall tonight in the Big Bend area of Florida.
Helene, which struck the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico and the western part of Cuba this Wednesday, is headed towards Florida as a devastating storm.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), catastrophic storm surges are likely to occur along the Big Bend coast, where flooding could reach up to 6.1 meters above ground level.
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