Tropical Storm Milton rapidly intensified into a Category 1 hurricane Sunday with its path aimed at Florida, less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene struck the state.
The hurricane is expected to make landfall Wednesday afternoon, federal forecasters said.
The storm debuted as a hurricane Sunday afternoon after producing sustained winds of 80 mph and continued to strengthen by drawing fuel from the Gulf of Mexico’s sultry waters.
Forecasters said Milton was likely to reach major-hurricane status, denoting a Category 3, 4, or 5 storm, on Monday. It would take a minimum of sustained 111-mph winds to make the storm a Category 3.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a news briefing Sunday that Milton is expected to make landfall in Hillsborough or Pinellas county Wednesday evening.
As of 2 p.m. ET Sunday, Milton was about 290 miles west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and 815 miles west-southwest of Tampa. It was pushing out maximum sustained winds estimated to be 80 mph, with some higher gusts, the hurricane center said, and moving east at 6 mph.