Tropical Storm Helene, a potential hurricane, is expected to rapidly strengthen as it heads toward Florida's Gulf Coast

Update: Helene has strengthened into a hurricane on a path for the Florida coast. See this Latest on its way here. Our previous story is below.

The Gulf Coast is bracing for a major hurricane to make landfall later this week Tropical Storm Helene The storm is forecast to quickly strengthen into a Category 3 storm as it moves toward the Florida coast. Residents were already busy evacuating and filling sandbags on Tuesday, two days before Helene was due to make landfall late Thursday.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis expanded the declaration of a state of emergency to a total of 61 counties on Tuesday. The state has issued voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders for 13 counties.

Power generators, emergency food and water supplies, and search and rescue and power restoration teams were deployed by federal authorities as President Biden also declared a state of emergency in Florida.

Tropical storm and hurricane warnings were in effect for parts of western Cuba and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula early Wednesday as the storm strengthened and made its way around the two countries. Those with travel plans to Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Cozumel were urged to check with their airlines and consider changing their plans.

Helene is expected to accelerate toward the eastern Gulf Coast on Wednesday, passing over record-warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico that would act as fuel and strengthen the storm.

Brian McNoldy, a senior research fellow at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, recently noted this Heat content of the oceans in the Gulf of Mexico is the highest on record. Warm water is a necessary component for strengthening tropical systems.

Sea surface temperatures along Helene's path are as high as 89 degrees Fahrenheit – 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. According to Climate Central, these record water temperatures were made significantly more likely by human-caused climate change. The entire North Atlantic experienced record temperatures in 2024, trapping 90% of excess heat Climate change produced by Greenhouse gas pollution.

In addition to the record warm waters caused by climate change, Helene is expected to travel directly over the Loop Current, an area of ​​exceptionally warm water that flows from the Caribbean to the eastern Gulf of Mexico before passing through the Strait of Florida to North flows like the Gulf Stream.

An otherwise favorable environment with high levels of storm-promoting moisture and low levels of storm-killing wind shear provides high confidence that Helene will be the third of four landfall areas US hurricanes so far this year to rapidly intensify. Rapid intensification The criteria is met when a storm achieves wind speeds of at least 35 miles per hour in 24 hours or less.

Official forecasts from the National Hurricane Center call for Helene to become one devastating category 3 Hurricane with peak winds of 120 mph at landfall. In the hardest-hit coastal communities, well-built frame homes may experience significant damage or removal of roofing. Many trees are snapped or uprooted and block the roads. Electricity and water will likely be unavailable for several days to even weeks after the storm.

Residents on Florida's west coast were urged to heed evacuation advisories from local authorities and not just focus on the centerline of the predicted route.

Hurricane Helene will be a large, fast-moving storm with impacts extending well beyond the center, particularly on the eastern side of the storm.

Communities from the Florida Keys north to Tampa could suffer devastating storm surges, even if the center of Helene is further west. National Hurricane Center forecasters expect the hurricane's size to be in the 90th percentile for this region, meaning an exceptionally large area will be affected by flooding, storm surge and damaging winds.

Florida's Gulf Coast is particularly vulnerable Storm surge, flooding due to the shallow water and shape of the coast before hurricanes.

Tucker Reals contributed to this report.