A turn toward the north-northeast with an increase in forward speed is expected later Wednesday through Thursday, bringing the center of the storm across the eastern Gulf of Mexico and to the Florida Big Bend coast by Thursday evening,

Helene rapidly intensified into a hurricane Wednesday as it plows toward a Florida landfall as the strongest hurricane to hit the US in over a year. The storm will also grow into a massive, sprawling monster as it continues to intensify,

Florida A &M University, the University of Tampa, the University of Florida and Florida State University’s Tallahassee campus have all announced closures ahead of Hurricane Helene’s landfall. The University of Tampa is under a mandatory evacuation order.