Hurricane Milton Makes Landfall On Florida's West Coast
Posted on 10/10/2024
Hurricane Milton has made landfall just south of Tampa Bay, with a major threat to life and property as it hammers the state with destructive storm surge, devastating wind damage, potentially catastrophic flooding rainfall and several tornadoes.
(LIVE UPDATES: Milton's Impacts, Reports And More)
Here's the latest status: Milton is now crossing Central Florida as a Category 2 hurricane packing winds up to 110 mph as of 10:00 p.m. EDT. It is tracking to the east-northeast at 16 mph.
It make landfall earlier this evening south of Tampa Bay.
Bands of heavy rain containing strong wind gusts are spreading across parts of the state, as shown in the radar snapshot below.
A "flash flood emergency" is in effect for portions of Tampa Bay, including St. Petersburg, Tampa, Riverview and Palmetto, Florida. So far, 10-14 inches of rain has fallen across southern Pinellas County, coastal Hillsborough County and western Manatee County. St. Petersburg, Florida, reported more than five inches of rain in just one hour along with a gust to 90 mph.
A "flash flood emergency" is in effect for Pasco, Hillsborough and Polk Counties, including Lakeland, Winter Haven and Wesley Chapel. So far, 8-12 inches of rain have fallen.
Multiple tornadoes have been confirmed in southern Florida since this morning.
Hurricane-force winds are sweeping through the west coast of Florida. Winds have gusted up to 105 mph in Egmont Channel, 102 mph in Sarasota, 101 mph in St. Petersburg, 97 mph in Venice and 90 mph in Venice. A sustained wind of 78 mph was recently recorded in Venice at an elevated station. Orlando Executive Airport has seen a gust to 60 mph.
Water levels have risen by about 8+ feet near Sarasota. A storm surge of 2-5 feet has been recorded from Naples to Charlotte Harbor, with more inundation likely occurring in Manatee and Sarasota counties. Water levels fell by around 5 feet at the top of Tampa Bay due to blowout winds while the mouth of Tampa Bay saw a climb in water levels by 1-2 feet.
Here's where hurricane and storm surge alerts are in effect: Hurricane warnings cover much of central Florida from the Gulf side to the Atlantic side, including the Tampa Bay area, Fort Myers, Orlando, Cape Canaveral and Daytona Beach. This means hurricane (sustained winds of 74 mph or higher) conditions are expected within the warning area by Wednesday evening into early Thursday.
Various tropical storm watches and warnings cover other parts of Florida, southeast Georgia, southeast South Carolina and southern North Carolina, as shown in the map below.
A storm surge warning stretches along Florida's Gulf Coast from Flamingo northward to Yankeetown, including Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay. Part of the Atlantic coastline is also in a storm surge warning, from Sebastian Inlet, Florida, northward to Altamaha Sound, Georgia, including the St. Johns River in northeast Florida.
This means a life-threatening water rise from storm surge is expected in these areas late Wednesday into Thursday.
Here's the latest timing and intensity forecast: Milton will continue weakening gradually as the storm moves over Florida because of increasing wind shear and land interaction.
It's important to note that this weakening won't reduce the impacts we see from Milton, including storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall. As mentioned before, Milton will also grow larger as it passes over Florida, allowing its wind, storm surge and rainfall impacts to sprawl out across a bigger area both within and outside of its forecast cone.
Impacts Forecast
Storm Surge
The latest National Hurricane Center forecast calls for storm surge to be as much as 9 to 13 feet above ground level if the peak surge coincides with high tide along the west-central Florida Gulf Coast from Boca Grande northward to Anna Maria Island. Charlotte Harbor could see storm surge levels up to 8 to 12 feet.
Storm surge will be most destructive near and to the south of where the storm’s center crosses the coast.
Storm surge will continue building up today before likely peaking tonight into early Thursday.
Some storm surge could also inundate parts of Florida's east coast as well as coastal Georgia and South Carolina because of winds blowing onshore when Milton passes by Wednesday night through Thursday.
Please note that adjustments to the storm surge forecast shown below are possible based on Milton's exact track.
Wind Damage
The most devastating winds capable of structural damage, downing trees and knocking out power will occur near where the center of Milton crosses the coast in west-central Florida and then tracks inland through central Florida toward the Orlando and Cape Canaveral areas. Power outages could last for days in these areas.
The timing for those strongest winds begins late Wednesday along the western Gulf Coast, then spreads east across central Florida through the first part of Thursday.
Areas farther away from the landfall point in northern and southern Florida will see some strong wind gusts as well that could at least down trees and cause scattered power outages.
Rainfall Flooding
Catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding – and moderate to major river flooding – is expected from Milton in the central and northern Florida Peninsula.
Totals across these areas could be 6 to 12 inches, with locally up to 18 inches through Thursday.
NOAA's Weather Prediction Center has issued a rare "high risk" flood threat for parts of central Florida, including the Tampa Bay and Orlando areas (pink shading below), for Wednesday and Thursday because of this excessive rainfall.
(For even more granular weather data tracking in your area, view your 15-minute forecast in our Premium Pro experience.)
Recap Of Milton So Far
Tropical Depression Fourteen formed on the morning of Oct. 5 in the southwest Gulf of Mexico and shortly thereafter was deemed Tropical Storm Milton.
The storm then rapidly intensified into Hurricane Milton about 24 hours later at 1 p.m. CDT on Oct. 6.
The next day, Milton underwent another incredible round of rapid intensification. Winds increased from 90 mph at 1 a.m. CDT on Oct. 7 to 180 mph just 15 hours later at 4 p.m. CDT.
Milton's 180 mph winds made it one of only nine other Atlantic hurricanes to hit that wind threshold or higher.
Its pressure dropped to 897 millibars, the lowest observed in any Atlantic hurricane since Wilma in 2005. That also ranks as the fifth-lowest pressure on record for any Atlantic hurricane.
(LIVE UPDATES: Milton's Impacts, Reports And More)
Here's the latest status: Milton is now crossing Central Florida as a Category 2 hurricane packing winds up to 110 mph as of 10:00 p.m. EDT. It is tracking to the east-northeast at 16 mph.
It make landfall earlier this evening south of Tampa Bay.
Bands of heavy rain containing strong wind gusts are spreading across parts of the state, as shown in the radar snapshot below.
A "flash flood emergency" is in effect for portions of Tampa Bay, including St. Petersburg, Tampa, Riverview and Palmetto, Florida. So far, 10-14 inches of rain has fallen across southern Pinellas County, coastal Hillsborough County and western Manatee County. St. Petersburg, Florida, reported more than five inches of rain in just one hour along with a gust to 90 mph.
A "flash flood emergency" is in effect for Pasco, Hillsborough and Polk Counties, including Lakeland, Winter Haven and Wesley Chapel. So far, 8-12 inches of rain have fallen.
Multiple tornadoes have been confirmed in southern Florida since this morning.
Hurricane-force winds are sweeping through the west coast of Florida. Winds have gusted up to 105 mph in Egmont Channel, 102 mph in Sarasota, 101 mph in St. Petersburg, 97 mph in Venice and 90 mph in Venice. A sustained wind of 78 mph was recently recorded in Venice at an elevated station. Orlando Executive Airport has seen a gust to 60 mph.
Water levels have risen by about 8+ feet near Sarasota. A storm surge of 2-5 feet has been recorded from Naples to Charlotte Harbor, with more inundation likely occurring in Manatee and Sarasota counties. Water levels fell by around 5 feet at the top of Tampa Bay due to blowout winds while the mouth of Tampa Bay saw a climb in water levels by 1-2 feet.
Here's where hurricane and storm surge alerts are in effect: Hurricane warnings cover much of central Florida from the Gulf side to the Atlantic side, including the Tampa Bay area, Fort Myers, Orlando, Cape Canaveral and Daytona Beach. This means hurricane (sustained winds of 74 mph or higher) conditions are expected within the warning area by Wednesday evening into early Thursday.
Various tropical storm watches and warnings cover other parts of Florida, southeast Georgia, southeast South Carolina and southern North Carolina, as shown in the map below.
A storm surge warning stretches along Florida's Gulf Coast from Flamingo northward to Yankeetown, including Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay. Part of the Atlantic coastline is also in a storm surge warning, from Sebastian Inlet, Florida, northward to Altamaha Sound, Georgia, including the St. Johns River in northeast Florida.
This means a life-threatening water rise from storm surge is expected in these areas late Wednesday into Thursday.
Here's the latest timing and intensity forecast: Milton will continue weakening gradually as the storm moves over Florida because of increasing wind shear and land interaction.
It's important to note that this weakening won't reduce the impacts we see from Milton, including storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall. As mentioned before, Milton will also grow larger as it passes over Florida, allowing its wind, storm surge and rainfall impacts to sprawl out across a bigger area both within and outside of its forecast cone.
Impacts Forecast
Storm Surge
The latest National Hurricane Center forecast calls for storm surge to be as much as 9 to 13 feet above ground level if the peak surge coincides with high tide along the west-central Florida Gulf Coast from Boca Grande northward to Anna Maria Island. Charlotte Harbor could see storm surge levels up to 8 to 12 feet.
Storm surge will be most destructive near and to the south of where the storm’s center crosses the coast.
Storm surge will continue building up today before likely peaking tonight into early Thursday.
Some storm surge could also inundate parts of Florida's east coast as well as coastal Georgia and South Carolina because of winds blowing onshore when Milton passes by Wednesday night through Thursday.
Please note that adjustments to the storm surge forecast shown below are possible based on Milton's exact track.
Wind Damage
The most devastating winds capable of structural damage, downing trees and knocking out power will occur near where the center of Milton crosses the coast in west-central Florida and then tracks inland through central Florida toward the Orlando and Cape Canaveral areas. Power outages could last for days in these areas.
The timing for those strongest winds begins late Wednesday along the western Gulf Coast, then spreads east across central Florida through the first part of Thursday.
Areas farther away from the landfall point in northern and southern Florida will see some strong wind gusts as well that could at least down trees and cause scattered power outages.
Rainfall Flooding
Catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding – and moderate to major river flooding – is expected from Milton in the central and northern Florida Peninsula.
Totals across these areas could be 6 to 12 inches, with locally up to 18 inches through Thursday.
NOAA's Weather Prediction Center has issued a rare "high risk" flood threat for parts of central Florida, including the Tampa Bay and Orlando areas (pink shading below), for Wednesday and Thursday because of this excessive rainfall.
(For even more granular weather data tracking in your area, view your 15-minute forecast in our Premium Pro experience.)
Recap Of Milton So Far
Tropical Depression Fourteen formed on the morning of Oct. 5 in the southwest Gulf of Mexico and shortly thereafter was deemed Tropical Storm Milton.
The storm then rapidly intensified into Hurricane Milton about 24 hours later at 1 p.m. CDT on Oct. 6.
The next day, Milton underwent another incredible round of rapid intensification. Winds increased from 90 mph at 1 a.m. CDT on Oct. 7 to 180 mph just 15 hours later at 4 p.m. CDT.
Milton's 180 mph winds made it one of only nine other Atlantic hurricanes to hit that wind threshold or higher.
Its pressure dropped to 897 millibars, the lowest observed in any Atlantic hurricane since Wilma in 2005. That also ranks as the fifth-lowest pressure on record for any Atlantic hurricane.
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