Major Hurricane Helene

[Jebman]

31 minutes ago, Met1985 said:

No shit. We've got people who already have over 15 inches and counting.  They say the French Broad river in Buncombe county is supposed to crest at 30 feet tomorrow.  That's 10 feet above the current record... And let's not talk about the winds coming through...

Soaked ground plus severe flooding with high winds means a ton of downed trees over a huge area.

[HIPPYVALLEY]

6 minutes ago, Jebman said:

Soaked ground plus severe flooding with high winds means a ton of downed trees over a huge area.

Georgia power outages are going to be impressive and maybe one of the under estimated effects.

[jm1220]

Parts of Atlanta particularly E and S side have 7 to almost 9” rain so far. And the interaction with the upper low means rain likely continues there until the center passes. Wind probably misses them but maybe 12” of rain will be plenty bad enough. 

[LithiaWx]

5 minutes ago, jm1220 said:

Parts of Atlanta particularly E and S side have 7 to almost 9” rain so far. And the interaction with the upper low means rain likely continues there until the center passes. Wind probably misses them but maybe 12” of rain will be plenty bad enough. 

Yep wide 5-6" totals across downtown.  isolated 8+ near milner SE.

[gallopinggertie]

61 gust to 88 at this station near Valdosta:

https://www.weather.gov/wrh/timeseries?site=1771W&hours=72

[wthrmn654]

3 deaths reported so far

[HIPPYVALLEY]

Impressive precipitation.

 

[GaWx]

2 hours ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

Georgia power outages are going to be impressive and maybe one of the under estimated effects.

 Power outages in Savannah have increased rapidly the last hour. I’ve recently heard two transformers blow. I don’t expect to have power too much longer. Winds have already been gusting  into the 40s. Lots of debris falling on the roof, roaring wind sounds. Kind of worrisome especially it keeps getting worse over the next 3+ hours or so as predicted. Earlier there were water spouts coming inland in the area. A very long night here already and the storm center is over 150 miles away currently!

[wthrmn654]

Cedar key Florida 9.3 feet current water level

 

[GaWx]

1 hour ago, andyhb said:

To be fair, the Tampa/St. Petersburg area is flooding badly right now. This is going to be a very costly storm for that area, even though it didn't hit them directly.

Probably one of the highest surges in over 100 years.

[Windspeed]

Impressive IR presentation given how inland Helene is now. Obviously, its rapid forward motion has a lot to do with the structure holding together so well. Perhaps some baroclinic enhancement to begin shortly with a hook left and phasing event with the ULL.

[Rjay]

41 minutes ago, gallopinggertie said:

61 gust to 88 at this station near Valdosta:

https://www.weather.gov/wrh/timeseries?site=1771W&hours=72

Gusting to 96mph now

[downeastnc]

So that would be pretty impressive....Valdosta 102 gusting 133

https://x.com/DavidKarnes3/status/1839528444440301678

[GaWx]

Huge gusts of wind (sounded like 50+ easily) just now and I just lost power. It is roaring. Hearing bangs on my roof here in Savannah. Worst since Matthew it appears.

[Windspeed]

This will easily be the worst hurricane impact for Georgia since David and perhaps far worse. The earlier statement this will be Georgia's Hugo unfortunately may end up applying here with respect to inland wind damage.

[MANDA]

Don't see things like this on a regular basis.

 

https://x.com/i/status/1839503993711525929

https://x.com/i/status/1839496312527401048

[Windspeed]

Don't see things like this on a regular basis.
 
https://x.com/i/status/1839503993711525929
https://x.com/i/status/1839496312527401048

Harvey #blueshed versus Helene #whiteshed.

Helene > Harvey.

[GaWx]

Wow, check this out from the NWS:

0124 AM TROPICAL CYCLONE SAVANNAH AIRPORT 32.13N 81.20W  
09/27/2024 CHATHAM GA ASOS  

SAVANNAH/HILTON HEAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT MEASURED A  
65 KNOT (75 MPH) WIND GUST. THE SUSTAINED WIND SPEED WAS  
44 KNOTS (51 MPH).

This was certainly not predicted.

[Normandy]

Posted for posterity.  Not often you see this

[csnavywx]

15 minutes ago, GaWx said:

 

Wow, check this out from the NWS:

0124 AM TROPICAL CYCLONE SAVANNAH AIRPORT 32.13N 81.20W  
09/27/2024 CHATHAM GA ASOS  

SAVANNAH/HILTON HEAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT MEASURED A  
65 KNOT (75 MPH) WIND GUST. THE SUSTAINED WIND SPEED WAS  
44 KNOTS (51 MPH).

This was certainly not predicted.

Getting a lot of baroclinic help as it roars inland. Central pressure has been slow to rise relative to normal.

[Normandy]

5 minutes ago, csnavywx said:

Getting a lot of baroclinic help as it roars inland. Central pressure has been slow to rise relative to normal.

Just a beast of a storm. Capture and put hands on everyone

[Jebman]

12 minutes ago, Normandy said:

Just a beast of a storm. Capture and put hands on everyone

Done. It is also on Drive.

[Windspeed]

Helene still has a clear eye on the radar, though it might finally be starting to show signs of filling.

[Floydbuster]

Video Update for the night owls like me

 

[Normandy]

1 hour ago, Rjay said:

Gusting to 96mph now

Generational brother. Insane inland wind event

[metalicwx367]

75KT wind gust just recorded near my hometown (KAMG). Power pretty much out to entire town. My mom said roof on next door neighbor's house just got blown off and stuff is flying everywhere. They are terrified right now. Might not seem bad to others but Southeast Georgia is getting wrecked. They weren't under a hurricane warning either.

[WxWatcher007]

I’m ok. Will do a longer report tomorrow but the eyewall was ferocious and we did have some clearing in the eye, which was incredible to see. The southern part looked ominous with lightning and a howl that the northern half did not have, but in the end the southern half was tame. 

Definitely chaser convergence here. Everyone from the New York Times to your chaser yahoo. Met some good people. Others not so much. Mike Seidel and I were basically standing in a somewhat protected part of the hotel during part of the eyewall talking tropical. 

Easily got over 100mph gusts. My minimum central pressure was 950.3mb at 11:30pm, slightly higher than the airport just to my south. I see the airport got to 99 but didn’t have a peak wind. Worse than Idalia visually, which was a damn good eyewall, but Laura remains far and away the most intense TC I’ve experienced.

#16 in the books.

https://i.imgur.com/MYWgVXF.png

Be safe everyone to the north. 

[Normandy]

13 minutes ago, metalicwx367 said:

75KT wind gust just recorded near my hometown (KAMG). Power pretty much out to entire town. My mom said roof on next door neighbor's house just got blown off and stuff is flying everywhere. They are terrified right now. Might not seem bad to others but Southeast Georgia is getting wrecked. They weren't under a hurricane warning either.

Yea brother y’all are taking a hit from this one.  The phase with the low to its west is giving it some sauce as it moves inland unfortunately 

[MN Transplant]

17 minutes ago, metalicwx367 said:

75KT wind gust just recorded near my hometown (KAMG). Power pretty much out to entire town. My mom said roof on next door neighbor's house just got blown off and stuff is flying everywhere. They are terrified right now. Might not seem bad to others but Southeast Georgia is getting wrecked. They weren't under a hurricane warning either.

Extremely impressive so far inland

https://www.weather.gov/wrh/timeseries?site=KAMG

 

[Normandy]

Just now, MN Transplant said:

Extremely impressive so far inland

https://www.weather.gov/wrh/timeseries?site=KAMG

 

Visuals for reference.  Insanity with these strong winds so far Inland