Here’s when South Florida’s weather likely will turn as Milton barrels down on Gulf Coast

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While South Florida has had several large tornadoes funnel through the sky Wednesday, the biggest impact from Hurricane Milton isn’t likely to be felt in the region until later this evening when the winds pick up, forecasters say.

From around 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service issued more than 100 tornado watches in Florida, including tornadoes that were spotted in Weston and near Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County. The tornado watches are in effect to 9 p.m.

In South Florida, there have been nine confirmed tornadoes as of 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service in Miami. The confirmed tornadoes were not in Miami-Dade, but in Broward, Palm Beach, Collier, Glades and Hendry counties, the weather service said.

READ MORE: Tornadoes spotted in southern Florida as Hurricane Milton approaches. Here’s where

As the risk of tornadoes decreases in the evening, winds will pick up. The earliest tropical storm winds are expected around 8 to 9 p.m Wednesday and continue into Thursday morning, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Ana Torres-Vazquez.

Sustained winds can be anywhere from 39 to 73 mph, according to the NWS.

But Vazquez added that the threat of flooding remains limited as showers are expected to move quickly, leaving little time for water to accumulate. But there is still a chance of flash flooding in areas that have already been saturated with rain.

South Florida remains under a tropical storm warning until Thursday but an earlier flood watch has been canceled.

“The worst of the rain that we were going to receive already happened,” said Torres-Vazquez.