“Helene is gaining strength as it approaches the Florida Big Bend. A large eye has become apparent in satellite images, and that feature has been gradually clearing out over the past few hours. The minimum pressure has been dropping steadily to near 960 mb, and based on the aircraft flight-level wind data, the initial intensity is estimated to have increased to 90 kt. There have been several reports of tropical-storm-force winds occurring in portions of South Florida and the Florida Keys during the past few hours,” says a Thursday update from the National Hurricane Center.

“It should also be re-emphasized that Helene is a very large hurricane. In fact, comparing the system with previous hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico over the past couple of decades, Helene is at the upper bound in terms of size. As a result, storm surge, wind, and rainfall impacts will extend far away from the center and well outside the forecast cone, particularly on the east side. In addition, the fast forward speed when Helene moves inland will result in a far inland penetration of strong winds over parts of the southeastern United States, including strong gusts over higher terrain of the southern Appalachians. Accordingly, a higher-than-normal gust factor is indicated in the official forecast while Helene is inland,” the bulletin continued and holy shit this sounds like it’s going to be pretty bad.

In plainer English this means that for a lot of people and infrastructure in parts of Georgia and Alabama that – although they’ve been hit with plenty of storms that came in through the Gulf – this is likely the first time they’re ever going to be hit with true hurricane-force winds.