What to Know about Hurricane Milton as It Churns Toward Florida’s Gulf Coast
According to AP News, Hurricane Milton strengthened as it churned through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida on Tuesday and could wallop one of the state’s major population centers with huge storm surges, lashing rain and destructive winds just two weeks after deadly Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline.
Milton, which returned to Category 5 status on Tuesday afternoon, is threatening the Tampa Bay area, which is home to more than 3.3 million people and has managed to evade a direct hit from a major hurricane for more than 100 years. Milton is also menacing other stretches of Florida’s west coast that were battered when Helene came ashore on Sept. 26.
Traffic was thick Tuesday as people fled the Tampa area ahead of Milton. As they evacuated, crews along the coast hurried to clear Helene’s debris so that Milton doesn’t turn it into dangerous projectiles.
National Hurricane Center forecasters warned that Milton is “expected to be a dangerous major hurricane” when it reaches the Florida coast.
When will Milton make landfall and how strong will it be?
Milton is expected to make landfall on Florida’s central Gulf coast late Wednesday.
“We must be prepared for a major, major impact to the west coast of Florida,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.
As of late Tuesday afternoon, the storm was about 480 miles (775 kilometers) southwest of Tampa with sustained winds of 165 mph (270 kph).
President Joe Biden, who postponed an overseas trip so he could remain at the White House to monitor Milton, warned that it “could be one of the worst storms in 100 years to hit Florida.”
With the storm expected to remain fairly strong as it crosses Florida, hurricane warnings were extended early Tuesday to parts of the state’s east coast.
Why are scientists saying this is a weird storm season?
Milton is just the latest system in a storm season that scientists say is the weirdest they’ve ever seen.
Forecasters were predicting a busy Atlantic hurricane season before it started, and it began when Beryl became the earliest storm on record to reach Category 5 status. But from Aug. 20 — the traditional start of peak hurricane season — to Sept. 23 it was record quiet, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
Then, five hurricanes popped up between Sept. 26 and Oct. 6, more than double the old record of two. On Sunday and Monday, there were three hurricanes in October at the same time, which had never happened before, Klotzbach said. In just 46.5 hours, Hurricane Milton went from forming as a tropical storm with 40 mph winds to a top-of-the-charts Category 5 hurricane.
