Hurricane Helene has strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm ahead of its anticipated landfall along Florida’s coast, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
As of 6:20 p.m. ET, Helene was about 120 miles west of Tampa with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph — the benchmark for Category 4 strength, according to the NHC.
As Helene approaches Florida's northwest coast, forecasters warn communities hundreds of miles away to prepare for its powerful winds and flooding rains.
Forecasters emphasize that the storm is unusually large, with hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 60 miles from its center and tropical-storm-force winds reaching 345 miles away.
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