Hurricane Milton intensified explosively in the Gulf today, and is now a Cat 5 hurricane with 180 mph wind! He is a tightly-wound system at the moment. Hurricane-force winds only extend outward 30 miles from the center, and tropical-storm force winds 80 miles from the center.
MONDAY EVENING SATELLITE LOOP:
While slow ‘weakening’ of the max winds around the eyewall is expected between now landfall Wednesday night around midnight, the reality is that the system will continue to grow in size and the hurricane-force winds will spread out to cover a wider area. Milton is expected to make landfall Wednesday night as a large Cat 3 or Cat 4 storm, driving a catastrophic storm surge into the bays from Tampa southward. Damaging gusts will be likely across the Florida Peninsula especially in a swath between Tampa and Orlando.
National Hurricane Center’s predicted track and intensity:
Meanwhile the weather in our area will be much more benign this week. A sprawling surface high to our west will maintain above-normal temperatures to a large part of the Plains / Mississippi River area. We will be between that area of high pressure, and an upper-level low to our northeast which will maintain a northwest wind over our area along with a few opportunities for clouds and showers, especially across our northern counties. Total rainfall will be under a tenth of an inch in the wettest spots, and completely dry for most locations.
TUESDAY
Tuesday will feature sunny skies in the morning, with scattered clouds during the afternoon. There could be some random light showers especially across the northern counties, but most of the region should remain dry.
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday will be sunnier, but with NW wind gusting up to 20 mph during the afternoon. Skies will be partly to mostly sunny, although there could be a few isolated showers in the northern counties. Most people will remember the day as a dry day. Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida after midnight Wednesday night, likely as a large Cat 4 hurricane!
THURSDAY
Thursday will also feature partly cloudy skies and breezy conditions, with a few isolated showers possible in the northern counties. Do not forget that comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will start to become visible near the western horizon for a short while after sunset this weekend!
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