NOAA and Saildrone have positioned two Saildrone USVs that are expected to intercept Hurricane Helene as the storm makes its way toward Florida.

NOAA writes in a news release:

Hurricane Helene is predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, but NOAA’s National Weather Service is alerting communities that Helene’s flooding rainfall and high winds won’t be limited to the Gulf Coast and are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland. 

Helene is an unusually large storm, whose wind field extends as far as 275 miles from its center. Even well before landfall, heavy rainfall will begin in portions of the southeastern United States, and will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday where storm total rainfall amounts are forecast to be up to 18 inches.