Details are still fuzzy, but the likelihood that Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine will turn into Hurricane Helene and affect the Gulf Coast later this week is increasing.

Record warm waters of the Caribbean are strengthening this system, which will pick up speed over the next day or two.

An organizing cluster of storms over the western Caribbean east of Central America is expected to gradually develop into a named storm over the next day or two and could quickly strengthen into a formidable hurricane as it accelerates toward the northeastern Gulf Coast – including parts of the Florida panhandle and Big Bend – by late Thursday into early Friday.