At 5:00 PM, the eye of Hurricane Helene was located near latitude 27.9 North, longitude 84.6 West. Helene is moving toward the north-northeast near 23 mph (37 km/h). A continued fast motion to the north-northeast is expected through landfall in the Florida Big Bend this evening. After landfall, Helene is expected to turn northwestward and slow down over the Tennessee Valley on Friday and Saturday.
Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 125 mph (205 km/h) with higher gusts. Helene is a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Additional strengthening is expected, and Helene will likely be an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane at landfall. Weakening is expected after Helene moves inland, but the fast forward speed will allow strong, damaging winds, especially in gusts, to penetrate well inland across the southeastern United States, including over the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles (95 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 310 miles (500 km). A weather station at Venice Municipal Airport recently reported a sustained wind of 46 mph (74 km/h) with a gust of 69 mph (111 km/h). Another observation near Venice Beach reported a sustained wind of 51 mph (82 km/h) with a gust to 66 mph (106 km/h).
The estimated minimum central pressure based on data from the Air Force Hurricane Hunters is 951 mb (28.09 inches).