What impacts will be felt in Florida as Milton approaches land?

DAYTON, Ohio ( WDTN ) — Hurricane Milton continues to churn in the Gulf of Mexico, bearing down on Florida, but the impacts have been felt as early as this morning.

Following multiple eyewall replacement cycles, Milton has expanded its wind field before landfall. But the Sunshine State has been feeling the impacts all day long.

As the hurricane nears closer to land, the outer bands have come ashore, and in the northeast quadrant, tornadoes are one of the first impacts seen.

“That’s just where the wind shear is maximized. That area where winds turn with height. And with a hurricane, especially one the size and strength of Milton, everything’s magnified. So the winds are super strong and they’re turning with height and creating a situation where if you get a thunderstorm, it’s going to rotate,” said Tom Johnstone, Meteorologist-in-charge at NWS Wilmington.

As Milton approaches land with tropical storm winds, the storm surge will gradually begin to rise. As the eyewall comes ashore in the middle of the night, destructive winds and life-threatening storm surge will come with it.

“The size of the storm and the wind pushes water just like in a bathtub, When you get in the bathtub, the water kind of spreads out. So I think the storm is creating waves and ripples in the Gulf and those are maximized, though, where the winds are strongest. So the surge tends to come in gradually and then it really tops off big time at the very end in that kind of right front eyewall area as the storm makes landfall,” said Johnstone.

Some positive news for the Miami Valley, however. Unlike Helene, the current weather pattern will push Milton off to shore and keep it away from the United States.

“Milton is already feeling some of the subtropical jet stream winds that are kind of shearing it and causing it to weaken a little bit. And those winds are blowing primarily from west to east across the northern part of Florida. So what that’s going to do is help steer Milton across the Florida peninsula and out in the Atlantic. Some impacts probably along the Carolina coast,” said Johnstone.

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