Hurricane Milton is making its way across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, where it is expected to make landfall near Tampa Bay on Wednesday. On Monday evening, Milton reached Category 5 status with 180 mph sustained winds and 200+ mph gusts, but has weakened to Category 4 today. Milton’s eye is unusually small at 3.8 miles wide — a characteristic of more intense hurricanes. It will strike Florida less than two weeks after the state was hit by the devastating Hurricane Helene. Meteorologists have attributed the heightened intensity of both storms to warmer water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.
Video source: NOAA / CIRA GOES-19
Hurricane Milton