The Heat Before the Storm: Tracking Hurricane Helene

🌪️ In this episode, we delve into the powerful Hurricane Helene, which threatens catastrophic effects in Florida. Fueled by unusually warm waters, Helene poses a severe threat with high storm surges and potential extensive flooding.

🌊 **Warm Waters Fuel Hurricane Helene:**
- Warm sea surface temperatures contributed to Hurricane Helene’s growth as it moved toward Florida.
- The Loop Current, which shunts warm water from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico, played a significant role in energizing the storm.
- Despite factors that mitigated its full potential, Helene still posed a severe threat to the coastline and inland areas.

📊 **Monitoring Tropical Weather Developments:**
- Tropical weather watchers began tracking a disturbance near the Yucatan Peninsula in mid-September.
- Sea surface temperature and ocean heat content data showed a tongue of unusually warm water extending north from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico.
- This warm core eddy provided a store of energy for passing hurricanes to draw from as they approached land.

🌡️ **Mapping the Conditions: Ocean Heat and Hurricane Potential:**
- The map shows sea surface temperatures on September 23, based on data from the Multiscale Ultrahigh Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (MUR SST) project.
- Surface waters above 27.8 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit)—the temperature generally required to sustain and intensify hurricanes—are represented in red on the map.
- The tongue of warm water is also visible in maps of sea surface temperature anomalies on NASA’s State of the Ocean data viewer.

🌬️ **The Dynamics of Hurricane Helene:**
- Helene underwent bouts of strengthening that met the official threshold for rapid intensification as it neared Florida on September 25 and 26.
- Forecasters expected the storm to strike Florida’s Big Bend region as an unusually expansive, Category 3 or 4 storm that could deliver “catastrophic” storm surge and “life-threatening” flash and urban flooding.
- Storm surges of 10 to 20 feet could swamp some areas, and hurricane-force winds could extend outward for up to 60 miles.

🌧️ **Preparations and Responses to the Storm:**
- Bands of rain influenced by the storm had started to hit the Southeast well before the center of the storm got near the coast.
- NASA’s Disasters program has activated to support data users responding to the storm, posting maps and data products on its open-access mapping portal.
- People tracking sea surface temperatures or other aspects of the storm can do so using NASA’s State of the Ocean data browser and other tools.

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