Florida is expected to get walloped by another hurricane next week, just 10 days after it was hit by Hurricane Helene, which caused widespread storm surge and wind damage before it moved inland to cause devastating flooding.
The latest system, Tropical Storm Milton, formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday. Forecasters expect the storm to quickly strengthen into a hurricane and rush toward Florida in the next few days.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Florida said Milton, which could become a hurricane on Monday, is expected to bring surge and high winds to the recovering west coast and serious flood risks to south and central Florida.
Jamie Rhome, the deputy director of the NHC in Miami, said Milton could develop into a “potentially very impactful hurricane” and hit Florida’s Gulf coast on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Milton is expected to pack maximum sustained winds of 110mph when it makes landfall near St Petersburg and Tampa as a category 2 to category 3 hurricane, Rhome said. Category 3 and above are considered “major” hurricanes.
On Saturday afternoon, Milton was about 220 miles (354km) north/north-east of Veracruz, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 40mph and expected to quickly move east/north-east across the Gulf of Mexico.
“Regardless of where the storm tracks, it’s going to produce a large area of heavy rain and potential flooding,” Rhome said.
“Even if this doesn’t realize a high-end wind core, it will have the potential for significant surge inundation,” Andrew Moore, a meteorologist for Arch Reinsurance, wrote on X.
A major factor in predicting Milton’s increasing strength is that surface sea temperatures, or SST’s, did not cool off after Helene passed over and remain significantly above normal.
“Most of the Gulf is above-average SST still, and the loop current is prominent. Shelf south of Tampa is extremely warm as well. Lots of potential fuel,” wrote Andy Hazelton, an associate scientist at the hurricane research department at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Separately, the NHC said another storm, already listed as Hurricane Kirk, is generating swells in the Atlantic ocean affecting the east coast of the US but not expected make US landfall, with another storm, Hurricane Leslie, not far behind.
