NHC: Invest 97L could hit Florida as Hurricane Helene increases development chances

TAMPA, Florida. – According to the National Hurricane Center, Invest 97L could develop soon and approach Florida as a hurricane later this week.

As of Monday morning, the NHC gives the system a 70 percent chance of developing in the next two days, increasing that chance to 90 percent over the next seven days. Once that happens, it will be named Helene.

FOX 13 meteorologist Dave Osterberg says the exact path is still uncertain, but most models showed the system strengthening into a hurricane as it moved through the warm, deep waters of the Yucatan Channel.

Depending on its path, the storm could make landfall in the Florida Panhandle or Big Bend area sometime on Thursday.

“We will have impacts,” Osterberg said. “Those impacts will be felt late Wednesday and most of Thursday.”

A shift of just 50 miles in one direction or the other would make a big difference in terms of potential impacts throughout the Bay Area, Osterberg said.

Models will likely give us a clearer picture of the system's exact path in the next 24 to 36 hours, Osterberg said.

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