Nicole strengthens to a hurricane ahead of Florida landfall

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - Nicole made first landfall Wednesday morning on Great Abaco Island in the northwestern Bahamas just shy of hurricane intensity. The National Hurricane Center released an update Wednesday evening upgrading Nicole to hurricane status while making landfall on Grand Bahama Island. Here is the latest from the agency on Nicole:

Location	Maximum Wind Speed	Movement	Minimum Central Pressure
105 miles east of west Palm Beach Florida	75 mph	West at 12 mph	980 mb

Nicole is forecast to make landfall on the coast of southeastern Florida overnight before traversing the peninsula late Thursday. Hurricane warnings have been issued along the east coast of the sunshine state, while tropical storm warnings have been issued for the western coast of the peninsula and stretch into coastal portions of Georgia and South Carolina.

Wind field reaches near 500 miles from the center of Nicole(KBTX)

The impacts of Nicole are expected to be wide-reaching with a wind field of 483 miles from the center. Florida is still in the process of cleaning up after Hurricane Ian. Nicole’s landfall comes only 43 days after Hurricane Ian’s landfall on September 27th. Over the next 24 to 48 hours, three to five inches of rain, with localized areas of eight inches, are expected. Storm surge could raise water levels by as much as one to five feet above normal tide levels.