Hurricane Milton timeline: Where and when will it make landfall in Florida? | Weather News

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Hurricane Milton, now an intense Category 5 storm, is shifting in direction of Florida.

Forecasters anticipate it should weaken to Class 3 or 4 earlier than making landfall alongside the state’s Central Gulf Coast, the place it has the potential to turn into probably the most devastating storms on file.

The hurricane is predicted to strike the densely populated Tampa Bay space with full power, lower than two weeks after Hurricane Helene battered the state.

Right here’s what we find out about Hurricane Milton and its projected path:

What’s Hurricane Milton?

Hurricane Milton is an intense tropical storm that has already affected the Yucatan Peninsula because it moved by means of the Gulf of Mexico.

In Yucatan, photographs confirmed coastal flooding, whereas sturdy winds introduced down bushes, inflicting energy outages, however Governor Joaquin Diaz stated that many of the reported injury had been minor.

Milton marks the ninth hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. On common, the Atlantic basin experiences about seven hurricanes and three main hurricanes annually.

That is the second Class 5 hurricane of the season, following Hurricane Beryl, the primary storm of the 2024 Atlantic season.

Fed by heat waters within the Gulf of Mexico, Milton turned the third-fastest intensifying storm on file within the Atlantic Ocean, the Nationwide Hurricane Heart (NHC) stated on Monday, because it surged from a tropical storm to a Class 5 hurricane in lower than 24 hours.

Its present velocity is 161mph (260km/h).

Authorities use the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to categorise storms. The size divides hurricanes into 5 classes primarily based on their sustained wind speeds.

The best is Class 5, which suggests a storm that has a sustained wind velocity of 157mph (253km/h) or greater. Class 5 storms normally imply “catastrophic injury,” according to the Nationwide Hurricane Heart (NHC).

When and the place is Milton anticipated to hit?

In anticipation of the hurricane, Florida declared a state of emergency and issued evacuation orders, leading to one of many largest evacuation efforts within the state’s historical past.

As of Tuesday, about 5.9 million individuals have been below obligatory or voluntary evacuation orders, together with individuals in 11 Florida counties.

Though the storm was not anticipated to make direct landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula, its proximity prompted residents to take precautionary measures. Lessons have been suspended, some municipalities halted financial actions, and the Nationwide Guard mobilised assist brigades, automobiles and rescue tools. Preventive patrols have been additionally carried out in susceptible communities and neighbourhoods throughout Yucatan’s municipalities.

Right here is how the storm has progressed – and the anticipated forecast:

Tuesday, 5:00 EDT (09:00 GMT)

On Tuesday morning, Hurricane Milton was throughout the northern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

In line with the NHC, whereas Milton was in Mexico “damaging hurricane-force winds and a life-threatening storm surge with harmful waves [were] anticipated.”

The storm was shifting at 12mph (19km/h) over the nice and cozy waters within the Gulf of Mexico and had most sustained winds of 155mph (250km/h), the NHC stated.

Wednesday, 02:00 EDT (06:00 GMT)

On Wednesday morning, Milton will probably be within the northeast of the Yucatan Peninsula and northwest of Cuba.

Authorities in Cuba have announced that ocean surges and coastal flooding are anticipated to have an effect on Havana on Wednesday, together with the town’s iconic seafront boulevard.

Round this time the wind velocity is projected to be 155mph (250km/h).

The storm’s depth is projected to range over the subsequent 36 hours, finally weakening barely to a Class 3 or 4 hurricane earlier than making landfall on Florida’s west coast.

Wednesday, 14:00 EDT (18:00 GMT)

Hurricane Milton will probably be nearing Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The Climate Prediction Heart has warned that landfall could possibly be accompanied by “widespread and quite a few situations of flash flooding” with a excessive chance of “life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding”.

The storm surge forecast, the rise in seawater degree precipitated solely by a storm, for Tampa Bay predicts a rise of 10 to fifteen ft of inundation for the realm from Anclote River to Tampa Bay. Milton is predicted to make landfall late on Wednesday evening into early Thursday morning.

Thursday, 02:00 EDT (06:00 GMT)

Round this time, Milton is predicted to make landfall sustaining winds of 133mph (215km/h), probably as a Class 4 storm.

The hurricane is predicted to hit the west-central coast of Florida and transfer off the east coast of Florida over the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday.

Officers have warned that even a slight shift within the storm’s monitor may considerably alter the situation of probably the most extreme storm surge.

Thursday, 20:00 EDT (00:00 GMT)

In line with the forecast presently the hurricane will turn into a Class 1 storm with winds sustaining at 86mph (140km/h).

It’s going to stay a hurricane because it crosses Florida. By that point, the storm will probably be positioned off the jap coast of Florida.

Among the areas that is likely to be affected by rainfall are Tampa, Sarasota, Fort Myers and Orlando, with Tampa anticipated to be probably the most affected by it with 8 to 12 inches (200mm – 300mm) of rainwater.

INTERACTIVE Hurricane Milton path map-OCT9-2024 copy 3-update 1045gmt-1728472299

How has the nice and cozy climate affected Milton?

Hurricanes are climate occasions that feed off the warmth of tropical waters.

Heat seawater evaporates, lifting into the air. If heat winds blowing over the ocean collide, they yank the new air from evaporated water upwards, making a storm with low strain in its centre. The Earth’s pure rotation makes the storm spin.

At greater heights, the vapour condenses within the type of heat rain, which additional heats up the encompassing air. This units in movement a cycle, with heat air and water sucked up by the storm, which retains intensifying. Because the strain on the centre of the storm reduces, its velocity picks up additional. This course of continues so long as the storm is over heat waters.

Since heat waters gas the power wanted for hurricanes to strengthen, hotter seas lead to extra highly effective hurricanes. The deeper the nice and cozy water extends below the ocean’s floor, the extra power is obtainable for the hurricane to journey additional and quicker.

Your entire Gulf of Mexico has been exceptionally heat this season, with among the highest temperatures discovered the place Milton quickly intensified yesterday and close to Florida’s western coast, the place it’s anticipated to make landfall.

Local weather change has contributed to the rise of temperatures. Within the final 4 a long time, the ocean has absorbed about 90 p.c of the warmth from greenhouse fuel emissions.

What’s the newest on the bottom?

Tampa police have referred to the hurricane because the “storm of the century”. Residents have begun evacuating the realm, with President Biden stating that doing so is “a matter of life and demise”.

The Division of Emergency Administration is tracking which counties are under evacuation orders.

Governor Ron DeSantis introduced that 5,000 Nationwide Guard members have been deployed, with an extra 3,000 prepared to help after the storm.

Lots of of flights to and from Florida have been cancelled, based on FlightAware. In Orlando, for instance, 781 flights scheduled for Wednesday have been cancelled.

The storm comes as Milton targets communities nonetheless reeling two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and houses in western Florida, its devastating march leaving not less than 230 individuals useless throughout southern states.



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