Hurricane Milton is strengthening Sunday over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico as it becomes officially a hurricane expected to slam into the west coast of Florida later this week.
According to the 1 p.m. bulletin of the National Hurricane Center, the center of Hurricane Milton was located by an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft.
Milton is moving toward the east near 6 mph (9 km/h), and this general motion is expected today.
Milton is forecast to move north of the Yucatan Peninsula and to move across the Gulf of Mexico and approach the west coast of the Florida Peninsula by midweek. It is expected to arrive near Tampa on Wednesday as at least a Category 3, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 51 counties ahead of the storm's potential landfall. Since many of those counties are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, DeSantis asked the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida Department of Transportation to coordinate all available resources and personnel to supplement local communities as they expedite debris removal.
A tropical storm watch is in effect now from Celestun to Cancun, in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The NHC said the Florida Peninsula, the Florida Keys and the northwestern Bahamas should monitor the system’s progress.
Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 80 mph (130 km/h) with higher gusts. Milton is forecast to rapidly intensify during the next couple of days and become a major hurricane on Monday.
U.S. & World
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 20 miles (30 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles (130 km) from the center.
Governor Ron DeSantis increased the number of Florida counties under a state of emergency from 35 to 51 on Sunday ahead of the Milton's impact.
DeSantis issued Executive Order (EO) 24-214, Emergency Management – Tropical Storm Milton on Saturday evening only including 35 counties, now 16 more have been added under precaution to what is expected to be a “catastrophic major hurricane.”
Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe counties are all included. For the full list of counties under state of emergency, click here.
Miami-Dade Mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, shared in her X account that “crews are hard at work clearing storm drains, ensuring pumps are ready and focusing on areas prone to flooding.”
FDOT also shared through their X account that under Gov. DeSantis’ direction, they have “activated available state personnel and resources to supplement local communities … in preparation for Tropical Storm Milton.”
