TAMPA, Fla. — Hurricane Helene significantly damaged parts of Florida, Georgia, The Carolinas and Tennessee. As people are still recovering, another storm is brewing in The Gulf of Mexico this week.
Here's the latest updates on Hurricane Milton, which continued to strengthen in the Gulf on Monday:
Milton formed in the western Gulf of Mexico early Saturday afternoon. Milton underwent rapid intensification Monday morning. It quickly gained Category 5 strength. It'll keep its major hurricane status as it approaches Florida's west coast.
Milton is the second Category 5 storm this season. Hurricane Beryl was the first. Milton joins Michael as the only Category 5 storm in October in the Gulf on record.
Florida will see the brunt of this next storm. Milton will encounter wind shear as it gets closer to Florida's west coast. This could knock it down to a Category 3. Either way, it is still a major storm making landfall late Wednesday into Thursday morning.
Storm surge, heavy rain and flooding, and strong winds will all be possible for parts of Florida. Some of which could be significant and very damaging.
Milton's exact landfall is still in question. As of now, it looks to be between Tampa and Sarasota. Where the center of the storm makes landfall will significantly affect how bad storm surge and wind will be along the western coast of Florida. Areas on the right hand side of the track (south along the coast) will experience the worst of the storm surge and flooding.
Of course, this means areas still recovering from Helene (Tampa Bay and other areas along the western coast of Florida) could see more trouble while still trying to clean up. However, this storm will NOT affect most of Georgia, Tennessee, and The Carolinas still recovering from Helene.
Hurricane Milton live radar
What about the rest of the tropics?
Out in the open Atlantic, Kirk and Leslie continue to spin as hurricanes. However, they are not threats to the mainland U.S.
Another disturbance off the coast of Africa has a low chance of developing into a tropical system over the next week.
Right now, all eyes are what becomes of Milton. Reminder, hurricane season runs through November 30th, but tropical activity really decreases during the month of November.
For the first time in recorded history, the Atlantic has three hurricanes after the month of September at the same time.
What about Texas?
October typically does not bring much tropical activity to Texas. Only 6 hurricanes or tropical storms have made landfall in Texas during October on record (records go back to the 1800s).
The overall pattern usually doesn't favor significant tropical systems moving into Texas.
Milton is occurring in a very common area for October. Favored areas of formation are in the southern/western Caribbean, eastern Gulf of Mexico, and off the East Coast of the U.S. And usually tracks are north/northeastward from that point.
