Milton marches on to Florida as a potentially historic major hurricane

Powerful Hurricane Milton restrengthens to a Category 5 storm late afternoon Wednesday.  The mammoth storm is expected to weaken a bit in terms of maximum wind speeds but continue to expand greatly in size

By late Wednesday, the pressure had dropped to 902 mb , making this the second lowest pressure this late in a calendar year in the Atlantic on record since 1979 which is how long pressure readings have been consistently recorded, according to Dr. Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State University. Only Wilma in 2005 with a reading of 882 mb was any lower.

Goes-16 satellite of category 5 Milton :

The storm is expected to make landfall early Thursday morning with life-threatening and catastrophic storm surge, flooding rainfall, and damaging wind gusts.

As Milton approaches, there is a risk for severe Weather, namely a few tropical cyclone tornadoes.

A few tornadoes are possible across the Florida Peninsula and Florida Keys as Hurricane Milton moves across the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Florida on Wednesday into early Thursday.

SEVERE WEATHER RISK;

TORNADO OUTLOOK:

Hurricane Warning in effect from coast to coast, including Ft Myers, Sarasota, Tampa, Orlando and Daytona Beach

Storm surge expected to reach a record breaking 10-15 feet, a level nearly twice the amount Helene brought to that region.

Rainfall totals are expected in the 5-10″ range with isolated locations receiving upwards of 15″.

Punishing winds will hammer a large swath of Florida as the storm traverses the state.

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