Hurricane Helene Now Forecast to Take Aim at Missouri’s Bootheel
There's a hurricane coming...to Missouri. Sort of. What is forecast to be major hurricane Helene now has models showing it will take a weird turn after making landfall and take aim at Missouri's Bootheel.
Let's state the obvious. No, Helene will NOT be a hurricane when it impacts Missouri, but make no mistake, it will almost certainly impact Missouri. Here's the latest forecast model from NOAA's National Hurricane Center.
Meteorologists now believe that after Hurricane Helene makes landfall likely as a category 3 storm, it will veer north then make an unusual turn to the left which should bring it right to the edge of Missouri's Bootheel as a tropical depression.
What will this mean for Missouri weather?
This is the expected precipitation that Hurricane Helene will bring to Missouri and surrounding states according to what the National Hurricane Center believes as of this writing.
Missouri will likely see moisture from Hurricane Helene as early as late Friday, but definitely by Saturday morning. While there is almost no way that it will bring with it any kind of significant wind events, the rain will be a factor. Just how much Missouri will get from this storm will likely depend on how strong it becomes and how much energy it's still packing after it makes landfall.
The National Weather Service in St. Louis now has a note about Helene's remnants affecting the state this coming weekend.
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