(PINPOINT WEATHER) — A tropical disturbance, which is currently known as Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine is located in the western Caribbean. This disturbance will become Tropical Cyclone Helene by Monday night or Tuesday.  Helene will move over the warm waters of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, possibly becoming a major hurricane by Wednesday or Thursday.   Watches issued for parts of Southwest Florida ahead of tropical impacts Helene is forecast by the National Hurricane Center to make landfall around the Big Bend or panhandle of Florida on Thursday.  This storm is then forecast to pick up speed and head towards the Carolinas as early as Friday morning.   An upper-level area of low pressure across the Deep South will help steer Helene when it moves over land later this week. Helene and that upper-level low-pressure system will do something called the 'Fujiwhara effect'.   The Fujiwhara effect is a rare weather phenomenon, but it occurs when two cyclonic vortices and or areas of low pressure get close enough to one another to where they rotate around each other as shown above.  Helene is going to be a major rainmaker for the southeast and mid-Atlantic region, likely bringing significant flooding later this week.   The Carolinas will certainly receive rainfall on Friday from Helene, with possibly impactful rainfall for Charlotte and the mountains.   As of Monday, the best flood threat on Friday appears will be west of I-77 and towards the mountains.  Friday will be a windy day for the Carolinas, but there is a lot of uncertainty about how strong those winds will be.   Please note, that this will be a forecast that changes gradually throughout the week, so the exact weather impacts for the Carolinas on Friday are still very uncertain.