Tropical Storm Helene formed over the northwestern Caribbean on Tuesday and triggered a tropical storm warning for the Lower Florida Keys.
The storm is forecast to be a major hurricane threat for the Florida panhandle by late Thursday.
According to the advisory from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) on Tuesday, the tropical storm was about 180 miles east-southeast of Cozumel, Mexico, and about 170 miles south-southeast of the western tip of Cuba.
In the 11 a.m. advisory, NHC forecasters said the storm is forecast to “strengthen significantly” in the next few days and issued a tropical storm warning for the Lower Florida Keys west of the Seven Mile Bridge and for the Dry Tortugas.
NHC forecasters said the system is moving toward the northwest at 12 mph with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.
A northwestward motion is expected to continue Tuesday night, followed by a faster northward or north-northeastward motion on Wednesday and Thursday, forecasters said.
On that forecast track, the center of the system is predicted to move across the northwestern Caribbean Sea and into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico during the next couple of days. Tuesday’s forecasting data projects that the storm’s path has a high likelihood of coming ashore in or near Florida’s Big Bend region.
The NHC has issued a storm surge watch for Indian Pass, Florida, southward to Flamingo, including Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor. It also has issued a hurricane watch for Englewood, Florida, to Indian Pass, including Tampa Bay.
A hurricane watch is in effect from Cabo Catoche, Mexico, to Tulum, Mexico, and for the Cuban province of Pinar del Rio.
A tropical storm warning is in effect from Rio Lagartos to Tulum in Mexico, as well as the Cuban provinces of Artemisa, Pinar del Rio, and the Isle of Youth.
A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area, in this case within the next 24 to 36 hours. A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area, typically within 48 hours before the anticipated first occurrence of tropical-storm-force winds. (UPI)