The Gulf Coast is bracing for the potential of a significant hurricane landfall later this week, as what will likely become a tropical storm — and then potentially Hurricane Helene — is organizing in the Caribbean Sea.

An organizing cluster of storms over the western Caribbean east of Central America is expected to gradually develop into a named storm over the next day or two and could quickly strengthen into a formidable hurricane as it accelerates toward the northeastern Gulf Coast – including parts of the Florida panhandle and Big Bend – by late Thursday into early Friday.