All eyes on Hurricane Helene
By Jared Shelton News-Press NOW meteorologist
The Mid-Missouri River Valley is rarely impacted by tropical systems, which can occasionally spread moisture into this part of the country depending on their track inland. Even so, major hurricanes making landfall in the United States often capture national attention for the sheer magnitude of their fury.
Hurricane Helene is no exception, as rapid intensification of this large tropical system is anticipated just before it slams into the big bend of Florida. Potentially doing so as a category three or four on the Sapphire Simpson Scale, officially reaching “major hurricane” status.
Well over 200 miles of coastline from just east of Panama City, to just north of Tampa Bay, is anticipated to experience 5 to 20 feet of storm surge, copious amounts of rain and vicious hurricane force winds. Sustained winds of over 74 miles per hour could extend as far north as Macon, Georgia, with a 100-plus mph wind field potentially extending over a 90-plus mile swath of land. For perspective, that’s an area roughly equivalent to the distance between St. Joseph and Omaha. Winds as high as 140 mph are possible over a smaller distance of roughly 30 to 70 miles across, the equivalent of a high-end EF2 or low-end EF3 tornado, except on a massive scale.
As Hurricane Helene drives inland this weekend, its remnant circulation will interact with a secondary trough of low pressure over the Ozark Plateau. This fairly rare circumstance will result in the “Fujiwhara effect,” where both low pressure systems oscillate in a cyclonic pattern before merging into one. This stagnant motion is anticipated to spread days of rain across parts of the Ohio, Mississippi and Tennessee River Valleys.
The Mid-Missouri River Valley will feel minimal impacts, if any, from the tropical system as a stable air mass locks in across much of the Great Plains, delivering a quiet end to September.
