Hurricane Milton brings squally conditions to South Florida, flights canceled

MIAMI - Windy conditions continue across South Florida on Thursday as Hurricane Milton moves off the state's east coast after making landfall near Siesta Key, near Sarasota, on Wednesday night with sustained winds of 120 mph.

The National Hurricane Center's 8 a.m. advisory shows Milton was packing maximum sustained winds of 85 mph as it moved to the northeast at 18 mph. NEXT Weather meteorologist KC Sherman said a wind advisory is in effect for eastern Broward and Miami-Dade on Thursday as winds could still gust up to 40 mph while Milton exists and drier air begins to fill back in.

On the forecast track, the center of Milton will move away from Florida and to the north of the Bahamas on Thursday.

The tropical storm warning for all of the Florida Keys and from the Palm Beach-Broward County line southward has been discontinued. A tropical storm warning remains in effect for Florida's east coast south of the St. Lucie/Martin County line to the Broward/Palm Beach County line.

Airports report delays and cancellations

Hurricane Milton has affected flights at South Florida airports.

Cancellations and delays were reported at Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International.

At Miami International, 148 flights were canceled and 27 were delayed early Thursday morning. At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, 11 flights were delayed and 56 were canceled.

On Wednesday, nearly 2,000 flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled, according to the tracking service FlightAware . That included over 380 flights canceled at Tampa International Airport, which is closed.

Tornadoes hit South Florida

Hurricane Milton spun multiple tornadoes in South Florida on Wednesday.

A tornado touched down along Alligator Alley in western Broward County near Collier County, with no damage reported.

Another tornado touched down in the Wellington area of Palm Beach County, causing damage to some homes and bringing down trees.

Tornadoes turned deadly at a mobile home park near Fort Pierce.

All of South Florida was under a tornado watch until 9 p.m. Wednesday. Several tornado warnings had also been issued for Broward County.

On Wednesday, there were 42 reports of tornadoes statewide and 95 tornado warnings issued.

When will conditions improve?

"By late Thursday, things will begin to wind down," said CBS News Miami chief meteorologist Ivan Cabrera. "Conditions will improve into Friday, and we're looking forward to a quiet and tranquil pattern setting up for the weekend and into next week."

On Friday, there will be a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. It will be cloudy with a 20% chance of rain in the day and 20% at night, according to the National Weather Service.

North winds will be around 14 mph with gusts as high as 23 mph during the day, and north winds of 10 to 13 mph with gusts as high as 22 will be seen at night.

Highs are expected to be near 86 and lows around 75.

Dangerous storm surge forecast for Florida

Forecasters warned of dangerous storm surge.

"The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast near and to the south of the landfall location, where the surge will be accompanied by large and dangerous waves," the hurricane center said.

"Rainfall amounts of 6 to 12 inches, with localized totals up to 18 inches, are expected across central to northern portions of the Florida Peninsula through Thursday," the hurricane center said.

"This rainfall brings the risk of considerable flash, urban  and areal flooding, along with the potential for moderate to major river flooding," it said.

Milton will also produce rainfall totals 2 to 4 inches across the Florida Keys through Thursday.