The risk posed by Tropical Storm Helene prompted the issuance of a Hurricane Warning and a Storm Surge Warning for the west coast of Florida.\u00a0 At 5:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday the center of Tropical Storm Helene was located at latitude 19.7\u00b0N and longitude 84.7\u00b0W which put the center about 155 miles (250 km) east-southeast of Cozumel, Mexico.\u00a0 Helene was moving toward the west-northwest at 12 m.p.h. (19 km\/h).\u00a0 The maximum sustained wind speed was 50 m.p.h. (80 km\/h) and there were wind gusts to 65 m.p.h. (105 km\/h).\u00a0 The minimum surface pressure was 995 mb.<\/p>\n
A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the portion of the coast from Anclote River to Mexico Beach, Florida.\u00a0 A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the portion of the coast from Cabo Catoche to Tulum, Mexico.\u00a0 That Hurricane Warning includes Cancun and Cozumel.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n A Hurricane Watch is in effect for the portion of the coast from Anclote River to Englewood, Florida.\u00a0 The Hurricane Watch includes Tampa Bay.\u00a0 A Hurricane Watch is also in effect for the Cuban province of Pinar del Rio.<\/span><\/p>\n A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the portion of the coast from Anclote River to Flamingo, Florida.\u00a0 The Tropical Storm Warning includes Tampa Bay.\u00a0 A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Lower and Middle Florida Keys west of Channel 5 Bridge.\u00a0 A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Dry Tortugas.\u00a0 A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the portion of the coast from Rio Lagartos to Cabo Catoche, Mexico. A Tropical Storm Warning was also in effect for the Cuban provinces of Artemisa, Pinar del Rio and Isle of Youth.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Lake Okeechobee.\u00a0 A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the portion of the coast from the Palm Beach\/Martin County Line, Florida to Savannah River, Georgia.<\/span><\/p>\n Tropical Storm Helene strengthened on Tuesday afternoon.\u00a0 The center of Helene’s circulation was near NOAA buoy 42056.\u00a0 The buoy measured a surface pressure of 996 mb.<\/p>\n The inner end of a rainband started to wrap around the center of Tropical Storm Helene.\u00a0 More thunderstorms formed near the center of Helene’s circulation.\u00a0 More thunderstorms also developed in bands in the western side of Tropical Storm Helene.\u00a0 Storms near the center of Helene’s circulation generated more upper level divergence that pumped mass away from the tropical storm.\u00a0 The removal of more mass caused the surface pressure to decrease.<\/p>\n Even though Tropical Storm Helene was strengthening, the distribution of wind speeds around Helene was still asymmetrical.\u00a0 Winds to tropical storm force extended out 175 miles (280 km) in the eastern side of Tropical Storm Helene.\u00a0 The winds in the western side of Helene’s circulation were blowing at less than tropical storm force.<\/p>\n Tropical Storm Helene will move through an environment favorable for intensification during the next 24 hours.\u00a0 Helene will move over water where the Sea Surface Temperatures are near 30\u00b0C.\u00a0 It will move under the middle of an upper level ridge over the western Gulf of Mexico and the northwestern Caribbean Sea.\u00a0 The upper level winds are weak near the middle of the ridge and there will be little vertical wind shear.\u00a0 Tropical Storm Helene will intensify during the next 24 hours. Helene is likely to strengthen to a hurricane by Wednesday morning.\u00a0 Helene could intensify rapidly after an inner core with an eye and an eyewall develops.<\/p>\n Tropical Storm Helene will move around the western end of a high pressure system over the western Atlantic Ocean.\u00a0 The high pressure system will steer Helene toward the northwest during the next 24 hours.\u00a0 On its anticipated track, Tropical Storm Helene will be near the northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday morning.\u00a0 Helene will move over the eastern Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday.\u00a0 Helene is likely to approach northern Florida on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n Tropical Storm Helene is likely to be a hurricane when it reaches the northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula.\u00a0 Helene will bring strong winds and heavy rain to the northeastern part of the Yucatan Peninsula and to western Cuba.<\/p>\n Tropical Storm Helene could be a major hurricane when it approaches northern Florida on Thursday.\u00a0 Helene will bring strong winds and heavy rain to northern Florida.\u00a0 Heavy rain is likely to cause floods.\u00a0 Helene could also cause a storm surge of up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) along portions of the west coast of Florida.<\/p>\n A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for the portion of the coast from Indian Pass to Flamingo, Florida.\u00a0 The Storm Surge Warning includes Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The risk posed by Tropical Storm Helene prompted the issuance of a Hurricane Warning and a Storm Surge Warning for the west coast of Florida.\u00a0 At 5:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday the center of Tropical Storm Helene was located at latitude 19.7\u00b0N and longitude 84.7\u00b0W which put the center about 155 miles (250 km) east-southeast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[491,492,3080,3066,3738,3635,1303,3662,3661,2163,145,3247,3087,51,50,98,1232,3083,2630,1638,3740,24,3357,3739,3073,3347,3102,2550,1231,2255],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21201,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21200\/revisions\/21201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}