Latest updates and history: The Category 4 storm approaches landfall in Florida this evening as wind speeds increase to 140 mph

Hurricane Helene continues to strengthen as it approaches the Florida coast, and experts have toughened their language to describe the severity of the threat.

The National Hurricane Center warned that the storm surge, which could reach 20 feet in some places, would be “catastrophic” for the coast of Big Bend, Florida.

This increase is occurring in places like Apalachicola Bay, according to local officials.

But the storm will not only have effects worthy of superlatives in Florida. Because Helene’s strong winds will spread so far from the storm’s center and the amount of rain it will dump will affect such a large area, the National Weather Service in Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, issued its own warning: “There will be one .” one of the most significant weather events in the western part of the area in modern times.”

Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore joined that chorus, saying, “This is going to be a historic storm.”