Hurricane Milton has “rapidly intensified” into a Category 4, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm now has maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, meaning it’s just 7 mph short of a Category 5 hurricane.
“Hurricane #Milton Advisory 10: Milton Continuing to Rapidly Intensify. Forecast to Become a Category 5 Hurricane,” the NHC wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday (October 7).
Milton is “rapidly intensifying” and is forecast to become a Category 5 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said
Image credits: NHC_Atlantic
Milton is predicted to make landfall as a major hurricane—Category 3 or higher—in the Tampa Bay area on the Gulf Coast of Florida sometime between 1 p.m. Wednesday (October 9) and 1 a.m. Thursday (October 10), according to the NHC.
In their 8 am report, the NHC noted that Milton had reached maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, marking an 25-mph increase over the course of an hour.
Milton is expected to downgrade to a non-major hurricane (Category 1 or 2) as it continues northeast through Central Florida before exiting the state off the East Coast, back into the Atlantic Ocean, the NHC added.
Image credits: NHC_Surge
Here are the Key Messages for rapidly intensifying category 4 Hurricane #Milton for Monday late morning. The latest advisory is at https://t.co/tW4KeGe9uJ pic.twitter.com/E0ZWmqChgg
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) October 7, 2024
“We’re talking about storm surge values higher than the ceiling,” warned Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie, as per the Sentinel.
“Please. If you’re in the Tampa Bay area, you need to evacuate.
“If they have called for your evacuation order, I beg you, I implore you, to evacuate. Drowning deaths due to storm surge are 100% preventable if you leave.”
Image credits: krishnakamal077
Milton would be the second hurricane to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast in less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene came ashore in the state on September 26 as a Category 4 hurricane.
Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna released a video warning that Hurricane Milton will be “worse than Helene” and urging people in the area to evacuate.
In a press conference held on Monday (October 7), Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that he “don’t know exactly how” the storm is “going to go.”
Image credits: NWSNHC
Image credits: JPL606
“When you’re talking about 30, 40, 50 miles north or south, that will make a huge difference in terms of who gets the worst surge, how much power is ended up taken out, and so we have no way of knowing how that’s going to shake out.”
DeSantis added that “the resources are being brought in, and the power restoration effort will begin as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
The post “This Would Be Disastrous”: Hurricane Milton On Path To Become Cat 5, Possibly “Worse Than Helene” first appeared on Bored Panda.