His warning was echoed by Lee Bercaw, Tampa’s police chief, who said it could be the “storm of the century”. The scale of the storm’s “horrific” strength prompted a veteran weather reporter to become emotional on air.
Milton has become the fifth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, with wind speeds reaching 290km/h as it sweeps across the Gulf of Mexico.
Experts said unusually warm ocean temperatures had acted as “rocket fuel” for the storm.
“Hurricane Milton has rapidly intensified at extreme levels over exceptionally warm waters that reach hundreds of feet deep in the Bay of Campeche and Gulf of Mexico,” Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather’s lead hurricane expert, said.
“The ocean heat content is at the highest level on record for this time of year in the Gulf, despite the recent passage of Helene.”
Hotter water evaporates more readily, leading to rising columns of warm, moist air that fuel rapid intensification of weather systems.
On Tuesday, Hurricane Milton grew from a tropical storm to a fierce Category 5 hurricane.
It was later downgraded to Category 4 but experts have warned this does not mean it will be less dangerous.
“In fact, there’s even more danger because the storm will broaden out and increase in size,” Jon Porter, an AccuWeather meteorologist, said.
Where will Hurricane Milton hit?
Forecasters predict Milton will make landfall around the Tampa Bay area of Florida.
The state is still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which hit in late September, killing over 200 people and causing an estimated US$38.5 billion ($62.8b) worth of damage.
The Mayor of Tampa issued a powerful warning to residents, saying if they choose not to evacuate they could die.
“If you choose to stay … you are going to die,” she told CNN. “I can say without any dramatisation whatsoever, if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re gonna die.”
The storm is predicted to travel across the Floridian Peninsula towards the Atlantic Ocean, sparing other US states ravaged by Helene.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that time for people to evacuate is quickly running out.
“We have to assume this is going to be a monster,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday.
He also said Biden had given him everything his state had asked for. “I’ve told them anything they ask for they could get,” the President said later at a press conference.
It came after a US air force base, located about 7km southwest of Tampa, was evacuated. Around 6600 military and civilian personnel work at the base.
When will Hurricane Milton hit Florida?
Wind speeds are currently 240km/h with higher gusts, and the eye of the Category 4 storm is moving across the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
The storm is forecast to hit Florida’s eastern coast between 6pm and 11pm Wednesday night local time.
Some experts have said it could make landfall as late as Thursday morning local time.
However, given the size of the hurricane, tropical storm-force winds of up to 117km/h could arrive on the east coast of Florida late on Wednesday morning, alongside torrential rain.
How weathermen have reacted
A Miami meteorologist became visibly emotional during a live NBC TV broadcast as he reported on Hurricane Milton’s rapid intensification in the Gulf of Mexico.
Holding back tears, John Morales described the hurricane as “incredible” and “horrific” and said climate change and global warming were driving the storm’s growth.
“It has dropped 50 millibars in 10 hours,” Morales said, his voice breaking up. “I apologise, this is just horrific.
“I mean, the seas are just so incredibly, incredibly hot. Record hot, as you might imagine,” he continued.
“You know what’s driving that, I don’t need to tell you: global warming, climate change.”
Commenting on the incident, Morales urged people to read an article he wrote in which he described how global warming had changed him.
“The warming world has forcibly shifted my manner from calm concern to agitated dismay,” Morales wrote in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
“Frankly, YOU should be shaken too, and demand #ClimateActionNow,” he added in a post on X.
Elisa Raffa, a CNN meteorologist, described the hurricane as a “monster”, adding that it was “truly mind-boggling & scary”.
“This is nothing short of astronomical,” Noah Bergren, a Fox weatherman, said.
“I am at a loss for words to meteorologically describe you the storm’s small eye and intensity. 897mb pressure with 180 MPH max sustained winds and gusts 200+ MPH.”
“This hurricane is nearing the mathematical limit of what Earth’s atmosphere over this ocean water can produce,” he said.
When is hurricane season in Florida?
The Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1 and runs until November 30.
On average, the Atlantic basin experiences about seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes a year.
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale classifies a major hurricane as a Category 3 or higher.
