Here is your forecast for Wednesday September 25th, 2024
Squalls of heavy rain will continue on and off through the evening. It will stay breezy with gusts to 30 mph. Conditions will be deteriorating overnight.
Overnight is when the gusts increase to 40+ mph and go up from there.
Tomorrow we will have tropical storm conditions across the entire area with 40-70 mph wind gusts through the day. Winds will drop below tropical storm strength late Thursday evening.
The rain bands will pick up in intensity and frequency as Helene makes its closest approach to the Southwest Florida coastline midday through the afternoon. 4-6" of rain are expected at the coast with 2-4" inland. This will lead to localized flooding, especially Thursday afternoon and evening, as drainage ditches and swales fill.
Helene will become an extremely large hurricane with a tropical storm wind field between 400-500 miles across. Impacts will be felt hundreds of miles away from the center.
Tropical storm warning are in place for all of Southwest Florida until further notice. This means that tropical storm conditions are likely within the warned area within the next 36 hours.
We continue with a storm surge warning as well from Thursday morning through as 3-5 feet of storm surge is likely along the coast.
FOX 4 EVENING METEOROLOGIST KATIE WALLS
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