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Hurricane Helene in 1958 had similarities to the 2024 storm in the Gulf of Florida

Hurricane Helene in 1958 had similarities to the 2024 storm in the Gulf of Florida
Posted on | Posted on angela

First Helene did not touch Florida and never made landfall, but it would have been a Category 4 storm if it had formed today.

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Hurricane Helene, which hit Florida's Big Bend, isn't the first major storm to bear that name, and the similarities don't end there.

The first Hurricane Helene blew off the coast of the Carolinas in late September 1958. The National Weather Service said it never made landfall, but its winds were so strong that Wilmington Airport recorded a gust of 135 mph.

The Saffir-Simpson scale for measuring hurricane strength was not used until the 1970s. If it had been so, the first Helene storm would have been a Category 4 storm, the weather service said.

Due to the offshore route and mandatory evacuation of coastal islands, there were no fatalities and only one serious injury in the region.

More history on Hurricane Helene from the 1958 storm season

Meteorologists first recognized Helene as a tropical storm on September 23, about 300 miles northeast of the Dominican Republic. The next day it developed into a hurricane and continued towards the southern coast of the USA. At the peak of its intensity over the Gulf Stream off South Carolina, maximum sustained winds were 150 miles per hour.

Helene continued to move in the Atlantic off North Carolina, dropping up to 8 inches of rain in some areas, and over the next few days on the East Coast, before hitting Canada as a “strong non-tropical low pressure system.”

More on 2024 Hurricane Helene, which is expected to make landfall near the Big Bend region of Florida

Tom Elia is an editor at The Palm Beach Post, overseeing coverage of public safety, courts, and northern and western Palm Beach County communities. You can reach him at [email protected]. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

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