As anticipated, Tropical Storm Milton is now Hurricane Milton with top winds of 80 mph.  In the past 24 hrs., Milton slowed down a bit, wobbled a little south, and gained strength about a half-day earlier than predicted.   The probability cone shifted a little south and the center consensus is now just south of Tampa in the Sarasota area.

As mentioned last night, this storm is going to be unique in contrast of condition between the areas immediately North and South of the storm.  There are far too many variables for any accurate assessment at the moment; however, all interests should pay close attention.  As a result of the slowing, the prudent evacuation timeline has moved from Tuesday morning to Tuesday afternoon.

(NHC) – At 100 PM CDT (1800 UTC), the center of Hurricane Milton was located by an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft near latitude 22.5 North, longitude 94.0 West. Milton is moving toward the east near 6 mph (9 km/h), and this general motion is expected today. An eastward to east-northeastward motion is forecast on Monday, followed by a faster northeastward motion on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On the forecast track, 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.

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. 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. (link)

Governor Ron DeSantis gives a briefing.

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Brian Norcross discusses projections.

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