The situation currently unfolding in the Caribbean and Gulf region has escalated with the National Hurricane Center (NHC) initiating official advisories on Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine.
This designation is used by the NHC when a system has not yet formed a fully closed circulation but is expected to become a tropical cyclone imminently and threatens land areas.
According to early assessments, the disturbance displays enough potential for organization that forecasters anticipate it will transition into a tropical storm within a very short window—most likely later today or tonight. When this occurs, it will be assigned the name Helene. The emergence of this system marks the onset of what could be a significant and fast-evolving weather event for a large portion of the southeastern United States.
