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Powerful Hurricane Milton churned toward the Florida peninsula on Tuesday, reconfiguring itself as a category five storm for a second time after achieving near-record strength the previous day.
The monster system – which has drawn a bead on the Tampa area – is expected to bring a level of damage to the Sunshine State unseen since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Catastrophic wind damage and flooding are expected, along with billions of dollars in likely property damage and potentially significant loss of life. Accordingly, mandatory evacuations have been ordered in thirteen Florida counties while another two dozen counties have issued voluntary evacuation notices or advisories.
Those orders have sparked a mass exodus from Florida, draining the state of fuel and clogging expressways headed north…
Broad swaths of Florida’s gulf coast – and Atlantic coast – are currently under hurricane warnings as Milton is expected to maintain hurricane strength after landfall throughout its anticipated 150-mile trek across the peninsula.
“We expect Milton to be a strong and extremely dangerous storm when it reaches the west Florida tomorrow night or early Thursday morning,” Florida governor Ron DeSantis said.
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Governor DeSantis Provides Update #6 on Hurricane Milton in Ocala https://t.co/D1Yv9Rzt7S
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 8, 2024
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Forecast models are in near-uniform agreement that the storm will come ashore somewhere between Cedar Key and Cape Coral – a nearly 200-mile stretch of Florida’s gulf coast that has Tampa, a city of more than three million people, at its center.
This stretch of coast was hit hard just twelve days ago by Hurricane Helene – another gulf storm which plowed through Florida’s Big Bend on September 26, 2024. Debris created by Helene – as well as the saturation of soil caused by her heavy rains – could compound the damage done by Milton.
As with Helene, storm surge estimates associated with Milton are off the charts. Per the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, surges of more than twelve feet are expected from Englewood, Florida through the Anclote River just northwest of Tampa.
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Actual surges could be much higher… as they were with Helene.
Milton lost some of its oomph on Monday evening as the storm experienced an eyewall replacement. In major hurricanes, eyewall replacement occurs when outer thunderstorm bands become stronger and more intense than interior bands – resulting in the formation of an outer eyewall. This outer eyewall gradually deprives the original eyewall of moisture and momentum – essentially starving it as it gets absorbed into new eyewall.
Storms lose intensity during eyewall replacement, as Milton did yesterday and early this morning – briefly becoming a category four hurricane again. After eyewall replacement is complete, though, they regain their intensity… as Milton is doing right now.
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Prior to yesterday’s eyewall replacement, Milton had undergone nearly unprecedented rapid intensification – morphing from a tropical storm to a category five hurricane in the span of just over 24 hours. The system saw its maximum sustained winds surge to 180 miles per hour – speeds tied for sixth-highest ever in the Atlantic basin. Milton’s central pressure also dropped to 897 millibars – which is the fifth-lowest central pressure ever recorded in an Atlantic system.
Again, the lower the pressure… the more powerful the storm.
After seeing its maximum sustained winds dip to 145 miles per hour during the eyewall replacement process, Milton has since regained category five status. As of 5:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, the storm’s maximum sustained winds were back up to 165 miles per hour with higher gusts.
“Fluctuations in intensity are likely while Milton moves across the eastern Gulf of Mexico, but Milton is expected to be a dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the west-central coast of Florida Wednesday night,” forecasters warned.
While Milton is ferociously strong, the good news – if there is any good news to be had in this scenario – is that it is also a compact system. For now, anyway. As of the latest advisory, hurricane-force winds extended outward from Milton’s center for just 30 miles while tropical-storm-force winds extended outward for 140 miles. That’s less than half the wind field of Helene as she made her approach to the Florida coast two weeks ago.
Still, the sheer strength of this system is nothing to take lightly – warranting the ominous warnings accompanying its approach.
“Today is the day to make life-saving decisions,” hurricane expert Dr. Levi Cowan noted. “Know your local vulnerability to flooding and wind. Know your evacuation zone and whether it is under an evacuation order. Account for the possibility of adjustments to the forecast. Be smart, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”
Our media outlet has tracked all of this year’s major storm systems from their inception all the way through to the fallout from their impacts. Count on us to do the same with Milton.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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4 comments
Compare Desantis’ response to the Gubamint boys: Florida has contracted engineers throughout the state who will swoop in to inspect infrastructure as soon as the storm passes. They and the power company teams are sitting just north and west of the track ready to go. FEMA has 90% of their teams already engaged with fires, mudslides and Helene with no ability to flex. FLARNG soldiers are already assembled and in fact a large number are supporting Helene recovery in GA and NC and they won’t need to be called back because the plan is already in place and being executed.
Desantis’ response is to politicize the whole thing. If you’re talking about organizing the hurricane response that’s the government employees who manage various agencies tasked with responding to natural disasters and other emergencies as well as private-sector workers pulled in to assist. You should be thanking public sector workers and private sector workers who are actually doing the work, not an elected politician trying to get brownie points for his team and secure a nice fat contract for himself later on.
Death Sentance has bungled every Hurricane Florida has had since his election. He does not give a crap about anything other than his political ambition (which he has tied to Trump) and he never has. His actions are why so many insurers are pulling out of Florida, why retirees in Florida have seen their property values fall, and why condo fees are through the roof. Many middle-class Floridians are being forced out of their home by skyrocketing costs.
As with all MAGA Republican grifters, this will be a free-for-all of Republican cronies grabbing government money.
He wants to strip consideration for global warming out of anything the government does, which just ensures more Helenes and Miltons for centuries to come.