Milton has turned post-tropical in the Atlantic after making landfall in Siesta Key, Fla. on Wednesday, Oct. 9. It moved inland as a Category 3 storm with maximum winds of 120 mph.
It is the fifth Gulf Coast landfalling hurricane this year, joining Beryl, Debby, Francine and Helene. It ties 2005 and 2020 for the second most Gulf hurrricane landfalls on record, trailing only 1886, where six Gulf hurricanes made landfall.
Milton formed into a tropical storm in the Bay of Campeche on Saturday, Oct. 5. It became a hurricane on Sunday, Oct. 6, and just a day later it was already a Category 5 hurricane with max winds of 180 mph as it moved across the Gulf.
Milton continues to move off the coast of Florida and has lost its tropical characteristsics. It is now denoted as a Hurricane-Force Extratropical Low with maximum winds of 75 mph and is moving east-northeast at 21 mph.
As Milton moved inland, heavy rain created a flash flood emergency north of the center of circulation including the cities of St. Petersburg, Tampa and Clearwater. Milton spawned tornado warnings and rotating storms earlier on Wednesday.
It brought extensive wind and flood damaging to parts of Florida's west coast and eastward along I-4 into Central Florida and the East Coast.
A total of 126 tornado warnings were issued in Florida, the second most tornado warnings ever issued in one day, and the most ever in Florida or from a tropical system. Below is a video of a tornado from South Florida on Wednesday, Oct. 9, hours before Milton made landfall.
As the storm came ashore, the winds were out of the northeast and pushed the water out of Tampa Bay.
Further south of landfall, winds pushed water from the Gulf inland, leading to dangerous storm surge of up to 5 to 10 feet above ground level.
Wind gusts on the west coast of Florida ranged from 70 mph to over 100 mph. Venice, Fla. just south of Siesta Key, reported a 107 mph gust.
Rainfall totals exceeded 12 inches with most of the rain falling within just a few hours. Some notable rainfall totals include St. Pete with nearly 19 inches of rain.
At the St. Petersburg Albert Whitted Airpot, five inches of rain fell within one hour. All of this water has to go somewhere and that means rivers are full and may not crest for a few days. Here's a list of river flooding warnings in place
Here's a look at the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season so far.
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