Tropical Storm Hermine officially reached hurricane status on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, NASA reported earlier today. When Hermine makes landfall, it will be the first hurricane to do hit Florida since Wilma in 2005. The governor of Florida gave a stern warning today, in a state that hasn't been hit by a hurricane for more than 10 years. Hermine will probably strike the state's eastern Panhandle on early Friday, and NOAA describes its force as “life-threatening.”
The National Hurricane Center says Hermine is currently spinning over the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 1 hurricane. Big Bend will likely experience the first landfall along Florida's Gulf Coast around midnight, with a high chance of deadly storm surges that may reach up to 9 feet, coupled with intense rainfall and related flooding.
NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured this image of the hurricane at 3:15 p.m. EDT (1915 UTC). (more…)
