TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Forecasters are warning that huge Hurricane Helene will intensify as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico on a path to Florida. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Wednesday that the hurricane is about 500 miles southwest of Tampa, Florida, with sustained winds of 80 mph. Helene became a tropical storm Tuesday in the western Caribbean Sea and strengthened into a hurricane Wednesday. Forecasters say it is expected to become at least a Category 3 hurricane with its center making landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida’s northwestern coast as soon as late Thursday. In the Pacific, former Hurricane John re-formed as a tropical storm and again threatened parts of Mexico’s western coast.