Suncoast residents & visitors prep for storm in various ways

Suncoast residents & visitors prep for storm in various ways

Wake of Helene and Local Forecast

Weather /

Happy Friday everyone! I hope everyone is ok after Hurricane Helene came up through the Gulf yesterday. I am meteorologist Eric Kasunich with the latest weather update.

Hurricane Helena made landfall last night as a category 4 storm with winds up to 140 mph in the Big Bend area. The eye of the storm was about 100 miles west of the Suncoast during the mid evening and when we experienced some of the strongest winds. Gusts were reported to be over 70 mph in some places, and rainfall was less than 2". Most of the coastal areas are dealing with flood waters from the storm surge.

As we clean up the pieces from Helene, we will experience the last remnants of the storm as she travels up through South Carolina and Georgia. Helene is still expected to bring a lot of rain and wind to that area which can result in some major flooding, especially in the low mountain areas. For us, the weather will be much calmer from what we experienced the past few days. Some people could still see some spotty fly by showers.

SNN Morning Edition

Weather /

SNN Morning Edition

Tropical Update

Weather /

Thursday morning tropical update:

Tracking Helene

Weather /

Hello Suncoast! Meteorologist Eric Kasunich here with a tropical update

Today we are starting out pretty quiet. Some might call this the calm before the storm as we will see the first impacts from Helene this afternoon. Helene is currently in between the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba with max winds of 80mph, moving northeast at 9mph. The forecast is calling for landfall Thursday night in the Big Bend region as a category 3. We will mostly be affected by the outer bands of the storm with tropical storm force winds and heavy downpours at times. The rain will be heavy, but the accumulated values will not be that high. Over the next five days you can expect 3-6". The biggest threat will be storm surge from 4-7 feet along the coast and the strongest impacts will take place between 11AM and 11PM tomorrow as well as power outages. Storm surge threat could last until Friday morning when the winds turn on shore.

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