ATLANTA — Metro Atlanta and north Georgia are bracing for Helene, which is expected to bring tropical storm conditions including heavy rainfall and significant, damaging wind gusts.
Helene will make landfall in Florida later Thursday evening before it travels north into Georgia and up toward the metro Atlanta/north Georgia region after midnight in the early hours of Friday morning.
One significant question that will play a factor in how strong, exactly, the wind gusts in our area become is whether or not the inner core of metro Atlanta will be Helene's "dirty side."
Here's a bit of an overview:
What does the 'dirty side' of a hurricane mean?
Basically, it just means the side of the hurricane with the stronger winds.
This is a function of the circulation of the hurricane -- counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, creating a kind of thrust in the counterclockwise direction as the storm moves.
That means for a storm moving north, like Helene, the winds are stronger on the eastern side.
For example, a hurricane with 90mph winds moving at 10mph would have a 100mph wind speed on the forward-moving side and 80 mph on the side with the backward motion.
The National Weather Service Atlanta account also noted in a post about Helene: "Damaging wind gusts that will likely lead to power outages and swaths of downed trees, especially EAST of the storm's center."
Now, about Atlanta and Helene.
Will Atlanta be on the 'dirty side' of Helene?
Right now (Thursday, around 1 p.m.) -- and we stress, right now, because these things can quickly change -- most models have begun placing Helene's track a little more to the east of the city of Atlanta. That means much of the metro would be on the western, weaker side, while areas like Athens or farther east (Augusta) would see the stronger side of Helene.
Now, if Helene in fact comes more directly at Atlanta or more to the west, then the city would be more in line with its eastern half -- the "dirty side" -- and therefore see stronger winds.
Take a look below for examples.
More on Helene
Hurricane Helene is forecast to quickly intensify as it moves through the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico, becoming a major hurricane. It will make landfall late Thursday along Florida's Big Bend region, not far from Apalachicola. In anticipation of the storm's impacts, Georgia's governor issued a State of Emergency to free up resources.
11Alive has issued a Weather Impact Alert for Wednesday night for pre-Helene tropical downpours, then for Thursday and Friday in north Georgia due to impacts from Helene.
Download the 11Alive News mobile app and turn on alerts to get the latest updates on the storm's track from our team. Stream extended forecasts and live radar on the 11Alive+ streaming app, available on Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV.