Milton to be historically destructive

Hurricane Milton, still at a monstrous Category 5, is due to make landfall on Wednesday night.

Hurricane Milton underwent EWRC (Eyewall Replacement Cycle) on Tuesday 8th October, having had an eye constricted to just under 4 miles in diameter.

The average diameter of the eye in a major hurricane is approximately 22 miles wide, making Milton's eye absolutely tiny. The smallest eye ever recorded was Hurricane Wilma's, at 2.3 miles.

However during the EWRC this small eye gave way to a new larger eye, whereby a new outer eyewall developed to replace the original inner one.

Almost every intense hurricane undergoes at least one of these cycles, which can temporarily weaken a storm. This happened in Milton's case, which was briefly downgraded from a Category 5, to a Category 4.

As expected however, Milton regained strength once again, intensifying back to a Category 5 on Tuesday evening, ahead of its landfall along Florida's west coast.

For Florida residents in the forecast path of Milton, none of this is good news. The hurricane is expected to expand in size with the wind field doubling in size ahead of its landfall late on Wednesday.

It abundant energy to tap as it crosses the very hot water of the Gulf of Mexico. An expanding Milton will increase the amount of coast that will be exposed to hurricane force winds and a likely destructive storm surge.

Landfall as a Category 3 or Category 4 hurricane Wednesday night near Tampa or Fort Myers will bring widespread damage, coastal flooding from storm surge, inland flooding and widespread power outages.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are reminding everyone that “Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida”.