The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has issued a new update, confirming that Tropical Storm Helene has strengthened into Hurricane Helene, and is expected to hit Florida as a major Category 3 hurricane.

Hurricane Helene

Though the cone model has not changed since this morning’s update from the NHC at 8 a.m. ET, the 11 a.m. advisory has now labeled the storm as Hurricane Helene. Currently a Category 1 with 80 mile-per-hour sustained winds, the storm is expected to strengthen to a Category 3 storm before it hits Florida, per the Orlando Sentinel.

Over the next couple of days, Helene will be moving through an environment of low vertical wind shear, ample environmental moisture, and over waters of high oceanic heat content. All guidance forecasts steady to rapid intensification.

Jack Beven, National Hurricane Center Hurricane Specialist

Orange County, where Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort are located, is still under a tropical storm warning as of the time of publication. Universal recently announced that Universal Volcano Bay Water Theme Park would be closed on Thursday, September 26 due to Hurricane Helene.

Both resorts issued their first statements on the storm yesterday, September 24. Both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando are currently operating as normal, though monitoring for severe weather conditions.

Storm surge and hurricane warnings have been issued for the Gulf Coast of Florida, with the current model showing the storm making landfall along the state’s Big Bend. Per WESH 2, Hurricane Helene is currently located about 500 miles south-southwest of Tampa. The storm is expected to move across the Eastern Gulf of Mexico today and tomorrow — Wednesday, September 25, and Thursday, September 26 — and reach the Gulf Coast of Florida late Thursday.

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