After remaining steady for a while due to its broad size and some entrainment of drier air to its west, Helene began its rapid intensification early on the morning of September 26 – aided by low mid-level wind shear, high relative humidity values and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) exceeding 30 °C (86 °F) near the Loop Current – as an increasingly well-defined eye developed, reaching Category 2 intensity at 12:00 UTC.[13] Quickly strengthening, by 18:25 UTC Helene was found to have become a major hurricane by Hurricane Hunters,[14] and 4 hours later, a Category 4 hurricane.[15] The hurricane attained its peak intensity later that night with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 938 millibars (27.70 inHg) at 3:10 UTC on September 27 as it made landfall east of the center of the Aucilla River about 10 miles (16 km) west-southwest of Perry, Florida,[16] becoming the strongest hurricane to strike Florida's Big Bend.[17] #Helene #2024 #Hurricane #Category4
