WASHINGTON, DC (News First) – An area of the Sunshine State’s Gulf Coast could be the landing spot for a tropical storm developing in the Caribbean. Rod Bain and USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey have more.
It could become a hurricane by the time a developing tropical system in the Caribbean makes landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Florida’s Big Bend or that general vicinity on Thursday or Friday, that’s a pretty quick timeline to go from a storm that does not have a name to a potential major hurricane, but that is the reality that we are facing. USDA meteorologist Brad Rippe says the potential path of now tropical storm Helene is one traveled by previously named tropical storms Hurricane Debbie earlier this summer and Hurricane Adelia last year. However, because of the angle of the coast with Florida, a very small change though in directional speed can result in a significant change in where that storm makes landfall. Landfall locale and potential inland path of the system will also determine possible impacts to agriculture, but Rippe says forecasts of significant precipitation and storm surge are associated with Helene.
