Hurricane Milton becomes a Category 4 storm as it moves toward Florida

Communities in Florida are bracing for the impact of Hurricane Milton, which quickly went intensified from a tropical storm to a powerful, life-threatening hurricane much faster than predicted.

By early Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center downgraded Milton to a Category 4 storm, but officials at the agency warned of the storm's power. "Milton poses an extremely serious threat to Florida and residents are urged to follow the order of local officials," the NHC said .

As of 2 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Milton was about 585 miles southwest of Tampa, Florida. Milton is expected to make landfall off the western coast of Florida late Wednesday or Thursday morning. But the forecasters at the NHC also said that weather conditions in Florida may deteriorate much earlier on Wednesday.

"Hurricane conditions are expected in the warning area on the west coast of Florida as early as Wednesday afternoon, with tropical storm conditions beginning early Wednesday," the agency said.

A slew of advisories are in effect in the area, where storm surges could get as high as 15 feet and wind speeds could reach 155 miles per hour.

School districts and government facilities in the area announced they would be closed for several days. Counties have enforced mandatory evacuation zones, and state and local officials have profusely warned residents to follow those orders.

"You don't have to evacuate hundreds of miles," Gov. Ron DeSantis has said. "Every county has places within them that you can go to. Maybe it's a friend's house, maybe it's a hotel, maybe it's a shelter."

Air travel into and around Florida is already being disrupted by Milton. The Tampa International Airport said it was pausing flights beginning Tuesday morning. The Federal Aviation Administration said on X , formerly Twitter, that it was "closely monitoring" the path of the hurricane and advised travelers to check the agency's flight travel dashboard and their airlines.

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