Tallahassee, United States (AFP) – Hurricane Helene was downgraded to a “strong” Category 2 hurricane on Friday, hours after it slammed into the southeastern US coast as a Category 4 storm, US forecasters said.

“Hurricane Helene is now a strong category 2 hurricane,” the National Weather Service in Florida’s capital Tallahassee posted on X, after the latest National Hurricane Center bulletin put maximum sustained windspeeds caused by the storm at 110 miles (175 kilometres) per hour, downgrading it on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale.

sw/cwl

© Agence France-Presse

Featured image credit: kjpargeter | Freepik

Satellite Image: Glacial lakes from retreating glaciers (termini of the glaciers in the Bhutan-Himalaya. Image provided by Jeffrey Kargel, USGS/NASA JPL/AGU)
The round-the-clock monitors protecting Bhutan from glacier riskClimate

The round-the-clock monitors protecting Bhutan from glacier risk

Wangdue Phodrang, Bhutan | AFP | Muser NewsDesk In a humble control room a few hours from Bhutan's capital, a team works around the clock to…
SourceSourceSeptember 9, 2026 Full article
Aerial photo of Hanoi, Vietnam
Vietnam’s capital blanketed by toxic smogNews

Vietnam’s capital blanketed by toxic smog

Hanoi, Vietnam | AFP Thick smog blanketed Hanoi on Friday, obscuring buildings and leaving nine million residents choking on toxic air as the Vietnamese capital…
SourceSourceJanuary 3, 2025 Full article
Image
U.S. climate in October 2024: record drought, extreme heat, and unusual weather patternsFactsNews

U.S. climate in October 2024: record drought, extreme heat, and unusual weather patterns

In October 2024, the United States experienced rapid drought expansion, extreme heat, and a complex interplay of weather events that have set new records and…
Muser NewsDeskMuser NewsDeskNovember 9, 2024 Full article