Hurricane Milton strengthened to a Category 5 powerhouse Monday, driving sustained winds of 175 mph as it rolled across the Gulf of Mexico bound for what could be a devastating crash along Florida's already storm-battered western coast Wednesday.
"Milton explosively intensifies with 175-mph winds,'' the National Hurricane Center said in its 2 p.m. ET advisory, urging Florida residents to heed the advice of local officials.
The storm, now about 700 miles from the state, rapidly strengthened from Category 2 to 5 in just a few hours Monday. By Tuesday, Milton's intensity "should be dictated by any eyewall replacement cycles, which will likely cause the system to gradually weaken but grow larger," the NHC said.
The center has issued hurricane watches across portions of Florida and warned that parts of the state could be overwhelmed by life-threatening storm surge, flooding rain and damaging winds.
Milton is forecast to remain an "extremely dangerous" hurricane for the next couple of days. Some weakening is forecast before the hurricane reaches the coast, but Milton "is still likely to be a large and powerful hurricane at landfall in Florida," hurricane center specialist Jack Beven wrote in an advisory.
Rainfall is expected to total 5-10 inches in some areas of the state that were saturated even before Hurricane Helene smashed ashore less than two weeks ago. Isolated communities could see 15 inches, the hurricane center said. Some areas will be slammed with heavy rainfall well ahead of Milton's arrival, likely later on Tuesday through Wednesday night, the NHC said. A potentially deadly storm surge of 8-12 feet is possible for Tampa and other coastal communities.
Hurricane Milton tracker:Follow projected path of Category 3 storm expected to hit Florida
Developments:
∎ Milton was centered 700 miles west-southwest of Tampa early afternoon Monday, moving east at 9 mph. The storm's path had shifted slightly north, placing the center of the cone of uncertainty in the Tampa Bay area.
∎ Tampa International Airport will suspend flight operations at 9 a.m. Tuesday and "reopen when safe to do so." The airport is not a shelter for people or vehicles, authorities said.
Mom shifts into survivalist mode for Milton
For over a week, Elasa Tiernan has grappled with the flood damage to her home in Crystal Beach. From hundreds of miles off shore, Hurricane Helene inundated Tiernan’s house in 2 feet of seawater. In the immediate aftermath, Tiernan’s husband – now bedridden because of mold exposure – cleared out the furniture and took a sledgehammer to the cabinets and concrete walls. Now, as Hurricane Milton approaches, one question haunts the lifelong Floridian: Will her home survive?
“I was going to squeegee more water out today, but with this all coming again, we pretty much just had to throw in the towel,” Tiernan, 48, told USA TODAY by phone as she searched for gasoline.
Most of her neighbors suffered the same fate during Helene, and now the streets are lined with “mountains of furniture.” On Monday, she bolted the doors shut, turned off the main breaker and headed for her aunt's house in Tarpon Springs, where she plans to shelter with her husband and daughter.
“I’m going to make sure we have everything we need. I'm a survivalist, I guess,” she said. “Being a mom of a 14-year-old, you don't really have a lot of time to think otherwise, right?”
Category 5s are the rarest hurricanes
Hurricane Milton is the second Category 5 storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, joining Beryl. Category 5 is the highest rating a hurricane can attain, according to the National Hurricane Center. Maximum sustained winds in excess of 156 mph or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale are required for a hurricane to reach this intensity.
They are the rarest of hurricanes: Weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Erdman said there have only been 40 such hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin since 1924, according to NOAA's historical database.
Since 1950, only five other years have had at least two Atlantic Category 5 hurricanes, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach: 1961: Esther, Hattie; 2005: Emily, Katrina, Rita, Wilma; 2007: Dean, Felix; 2017: Irma, Maria; 2019: Dorian, Lorenzo.
Only four hurricanes have ever hit the U.S. at Category 5 strength; the most recent being Hurricane Michael in 2018.