BREAKING NEWS: The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has begun posting advisories on Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine,

which will likely become Tropical Storm Helene later today or tonight.
Big Picture: Tropical Storm Helene will likely form in the NW

Caribbean later today or tonight, then strengthen to a hurricane as it approaches an area from the Florida Panhandle through West Central Florida on Thursday.

Helene could intensify to a category 2 or 3 hurricane that will likely produce a large wind field,

and inflict wind, storm surge and rainfall impacts to a broad area of

Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
In Detail:
1. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasts an area

of disorganized thunderstorms to become

better organized and form a center of circulation in the

NW Caribbean Sea later today or tonight. The storm would likely be named Helene,

and is forecast to track through the Yucatan Channel,

then become a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.