All storm pages · 2024 Atlantic season
Hurricane Helene 2024
Category 4 hurricane · Atlantic · September 24 to September 27, 2024
Helene came ashore in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on September 27, 2024, with 140 mph winds. Its winds climbed 60 mph in the 24 hours to September 27. With a peak of 140 mph, it ranked the fourth-strongest of the 18 storms of the 2024 season. The name Helene is on the National Hurricane Center's list of retired Atlantic hurricane names.
Strength over time
- First record (disturbance) 245 miles north-northeast of Bilwi, Atlántico Norte, Nicaragua
- Tropical storm 195 miles south-southwest of Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba
- Hurricane 35 miles east-southeast of Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico
- Major hurricane 160 miles west-southwest of Sarasota, Florida
- Peak 105 miles west of Spring Hill, Florida; lowest pressure 939 mb
- Landfall Florida
- No longer tropical (low) 65 miles north-northwest of Oak Ridge, Tennessee
- Last record 30 miles east-northeast of Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Against every Atlantic storm since 1851
In the 2024 season
Storm 8 of 18 in 2024, hurricane 5 of 11; it formed after Gordon and before Isaac. Helene produced 4% of the season's accumulated cyclone energy. See the season.
Places the center passed
The center came within 50 miles of at least 8 towns or cities of 10,000 people or more while the system was tropical. Distances are to the interpolated track line, not the storm's edge.
| Place | Closest | Wind then | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valdosta, Georgia | 12 mi | 105 mph | September 27 |
| Athens, Georgia | 12 mi | 60 mph | September 27 |
| Dublin, Georgia | 13 mi | 75 mph | September 27 |
| Douglas, Georgia | 25 mi | 85 mph | September 27 |
| Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico | 29 mi | 75 mph | September 25 |
| Macon, Georgia | 30 mi | 70 mph | September 27 |
| Anderson, South Carolina | 32 mi | 50 mph | September 27 |
| Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico | 37 mi | 75 mph | September 25 |
Similar landfalls in Florida
Storms whose strongest landfall record in Florida came closest to Helene's 140 mph:
- Irma (2017)130 mph, September 10, 2017
- Donna (1960)145 mph, September 10, 1960
- King (1950)130 mph, October 18, 1950
- Storm 2 of 1949130 mph, August 26, 1949
Also peaked at 140 mph
Of 35 storms from other Atlantic seasons, the nearest in time:
- Gabrielle (2025)944 mb, no landfall record
- Fiona (2022)931 mb, landfall in Guadeloupe
- Teddy (2020)945 mb, no landfall record
- Delta (2020)953 mb, landfall in Quintana Roo