“The most terrifying superstorm in world history, even worse than Super Typhoon Yagi, Milton, is heading to Florida.”

“The most terrifying superstorm in world history, even worse than Super Typhoon Yagi, Milton, is heading to Florida.”

With high-powered Hurricane Helene largely following Hurricane Ian’s 2022 deadly path until Thursday morning, how did Southwest Florida avert the worst of it this time?

“Cold front is not in play like it was on Ian,” said veteran storm blogger Mike Boylan, doing live reports Thursday on his Mike’s Weather Page site, a state Division of Emergency Management partner. “We got a high pressure building (that) is gonna pull our system and actually turn it west. So Ian turned last second, but we also had spaghetti models that supported that turn. (There) was a lot more uncertainty with Ian. We had the GFS (Global Forecast System) model pointing to the Panhandle. We had the Euro (European Medium Range Forecast) going down towards Fort Myers.”

Still, Southwest Florida experienced significant effects from flooding, outer bands and other elements as hefty Helene barreled up the Gulf of Mexico toward the Panhandle late Thursday.

“The storm isn’t that little skinny line,” said Boylan, who started his weather operation two decades ago and has won the governor’s annual Tropical Meteorology Award. “It’s a big system, Top 10 size. Huge width. (Helene) is a huge 400-mile wide system. Tropical storm force winds are going to reach 200, 250 miles from the center.”

Here’s what to know about Hurricane Helene and its impact on Southwest Florida, as high winds reached even further than what was initially forecast.