This will not be news to anyone, but it is worth highlighting as the third major weather event of the 2024 hurricane season: Beryl, Helene and now Milton.
Hurricane Milton, was forecast to come ashore in the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday evening. On Tuesday it had grown into a Category 5 storm with winds recorded at 185 mile per hour. This is at the upper limit of the category and had meteorologists speculating about adding a Category 6 to the scale.
That wind speed has been considered near the possible upper limit for wind generated in a hurricane. Yet, with the water in the Gulf of Mexico at record high temperatures this year, that limit may have to be increased to 200 knots or more.
The forecast was for Milton to make landfall at Tampa Bay, which would make it the first hurricane to hit Tampa area directly in 100 years. The storm is expected to be a Cat 3 hurricane upon landfall with sustained winds of 135 mph and the width of the hurricane winds at over 30 miles.
The storm surge along Florida’s west coast and in Tampa Bay is expected to be up top 15 feet, which will flood just about all of the coastal areas around the city.
Following on the damage done to the coast by Hurricane Helene last week, the potential for a true disaster from Milton is considered very real. Every official from President Biden on down has been calling for mass evacuations for everyone in Milton’s path.
Biden directed airlines serving the state to provide as many flights out on Tuesday and Wednesday as possible for evacuees and he urged the companies to avoid price gouging.
The storm will remain a hurricane as it crosses Florida and will cut a swath 70 miles wide and is expected to pass over Orlando and then exit the state near Cape Canaveral. Even after passing over land, which usually, diminished a storm’s power, Milton is expected to enter the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream as a full-blown hurricane. As of this writing, the storm was not expected to be a danger to Georgia, the Carolinas or other mid-Atlantic states other than moderate surges.
Here’s a video from the Tampa area following last week’s encounter with Helene. Milton will be much worse by a factor of 5 or more.
