What can Alabama expect from Hurricane Helene?

Helene strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday morning as it prepared to move from the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico.

The National Hurricane Center expects Helene, the fifth hurricane of 2024 in the Atlantic, to strengthen quickly and pick up speed as it crosses the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, headed northward toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Helene could be a strong Category 3 hurricane when it makes landfall in Florida, which could come on Thursday night, according to forecasters.

In addition, Helene is expected to be moving so fast that it won’t have time to weaken much as it pushes inland, which could spread hurricane-force winds farther inland than usual with a landfalling storm.

Alabama is expected to get a lot of rain and strong winds from Helene, particularly east and southeast Alabama, which will be closest to the storm. Most of the worst weather from Helene will affect Alabama Thursday and Friday.

“Folks need to have preparations done today, as conditions will deteriorate starting as early as tomorrow afternoon,” the National Weather Service said on Wednesday.

Helene is expected to make landfall well to the east of Alabama’s coastal areas on Thursday night. However, the hurricane center expects Helene to grow in size and be a very large hurricane by the time it nears the coast, which could spread some of its impacts to areas farther away.

A tropical storm warning has been expanded to include more inland Alabama counties. In southeast Alabama th warning includes Dale, Coffee, Geneva, Henry and Houston:

In central Alabama Barbour, Bullock, Chambers, Lee, Macon, Pike and Russell counties have been put under a tropical storm warning:

Those counties could face winds that range from 58 mph to 73 mph as Helene makes landfall to the southeast.

The National Weather Service said those kind of winds could cause significant damage and knock down trees and power lines. Efforts to prepare for the storm should be completed as soon as possible, forecasters said.

Here is a look at potential wind gusts statewide:

The eastern part of the state will be under flood watches for the next few days. The National Weather Service is predicting that some spots in east Alabama could get as much as 10 inches of rain from Helene, which could cause flash flooding (the rainfall forecast is at the top of this post).

Here’s the flood watch for central Alabama:

Here’s the flood watch for southeast Alabama:

Coastal areas in Alabama won’t face significant storm surge, but seas will be very rough, with large waves and deadly rip currents beginning late tonight into early Thursday morning.

The risk for rip currents will be raised to high tonight and last into Friday:

A high surf warning will also go into effect tonight along the coast.

The one thing that may not be an issue is the threat for tornadoes. The weather service expects the tornado threat to mainly reside to the east of where Helene makes landfall — for areas like eastern Florida and Georgia.

There is no organized severe weather risk for Alabama for Thursday.