Less than 10 days after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida, the state is bracing for Hurricane Milton, another potentially devastating storm that is a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
The latest storm information from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Tropical Storm Milton formed in the western Gulf of Mexico on the morning of October 5, just hours after becoming a tropical depression.
According to the NHC's hurricane forecast, the 13th named storm of the 2024 hurricane season is forming earlier than average — usually around October 25.
Milton is forecast to strengthen and bring life-threatening impacts to parts of Florida's west coast next week.
With very low vertical wind shear and extremely warm sea surface temperatures, Milton is expected to rapidly intensify over the next few days, becoming a major hurricane within 72 hours, and is expected to make landfall in Florida as a Category 3 hurricane, packing peak winds of 115 mph near the center.
To prepare for the storm, on October 5, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 35 counties.
Hurricane Milton will move slowly into the night of October 6 before it is expected to pick up speed and strengthen on October 7-8, CBS News forecasters said.
South Florida will get a double whammy from this system, starting on October 6 with a weaker low pressure area moving through the region and lasting until October 7, bringing the first round of heavy rain to South Florida.
The second "punch" will be Storm Milton, which is expected to make landfall on the afternoon of October 9, bringing heavy rain and strong winds.
Currently, the main threat to South Florida remains the risk of flooding from rain, with the potential for rainfall ranging from 100-200mm across the region.
The threat of Hurricane Milton comes after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on September 26, wreaking havoc across 800km with catastrophic flooding, strong winds and power outages, killing at least 227 people in six states.
Helene was one of the strongest hurricanes the Gulf of Mexico has seen in the past century.
