Hurricane Milton Tuesday October 8 11:15 am Dutch time, source: https://imweather.com
Hurricane Milton is one of the most intense hurricanes ever recorded. The rapid development into a hurricane of the highest category was very remarkable. According to the latest forecast, Milton will make landfall in Florida overnight into Thursday.
Saturday afternoon, October 5, 2:00 PM Dutch time, Milton was still only a tropical depression with wind speeds around 55 km/hour. Just 46 hours later, at 12:00 on Monday afternoon, wind speeds of around 270 km/h were measured. A strength increase of this caliber in such a short time has never been measured before.
Top 5 strongest ever
During the night from Monday to Tuesday, average wind speeds of 285 km/h were even measured around the core in combination with extremely low air pressure; 897 hPa. On this basis, Milton is the strongest hurricane since Wilma (2005) and the fifth strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic basin (the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico).
Saffir-Simpson scale – Strength of hurricanes – Hurricane force
Since last night, Milton has weakened slightly in strength and with wind speeds around 250 km/h, the hurricane is currently on the border of category 4 and category 5.
Also read: Everything you want to know about hurricanes.
Yucatan, Mexico
Milton will race along the north coast of Yucatán this Tuesday. This is a peninsula in eastern Mexico. A ‘Hurricane Watch’ is in effect. It does not make landfall, so the maximum wind speeds just miss the coast of Yucatán, but the coastal strip does have to deal with winds of hurricane force. There is also a storm surge of several meters locally on the coast.
Another direct hit for Florida
According to the current forecast, Milton will head northeast toward Florida and make landfall approximately in the middle of the west coast overnight into Thursday. This may happen near the bay area of the city of Tampa.
Until then, Milton will remain a major hurricane of at least Category 3 and probably Category 4 or 5. Once over Florida, wind speeds decrease and later on Thursday Milton will move east of Florida into the Atlantic Ocean.
In addition to extreme wind speeds, the west coast of Florida can experience significant storm surge. Regionally, the water may rise more than five meters higher than normal. Also, 100-200 mm of rain falls in a wide band across the state in just a day. There is a bit more locally.
More than a week ago, the state of Florida was also hit by a major hurricane. Category 4 Hurricane Helene passed over northern Florida in late September.