Tropical Storm Helene is set to enter the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday afternoon. From there, it’s on a dead sprint to go from tropical storm to Category 3 hurricane — or stronger — in just over 24 hours.

Helene was heading toward the island of Cozumel off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as of the National Hurricane Center's 10 p.m. CDT advisory, with sustained winds increasing to 60 mph. The storm is projected to dump heavy rain and trigger possible mudslides across western Cuba while passing between the island and the Yucatan on Tuesday night.

The Gulf Coast is bracing for a major hurricane landfall late this week as Tropical Storm Helene is forecast to rapidly intensify into a Category 3 storm on a path for the Florida coast. Residents were already evacuating and filling sandbags Tuesday,