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How Hurricane Helene became a monster storm

“It had all the different weapons at its disposal.”

The Southeastern United States is reeling from Hurricane Helene, a monstrous storm that made landfall in Florida on Thursday before cutting a terrifying path all the way up to Tennessee. But Helene was able to form a relatively small eye and then rapidly intensify, a term used to describe tropical storms with sustained wind speeds that rise by at least 30 knots (roughly 35 miles per hour) in a 24-hour period. The underwater topography off Florida’s west coast, with a more gradual incline, acted like a ramp, making it easier for the storm to bring a taller wall of water with it.

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