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TRACKING MILTON: When will it make landfall & will it impact Northeast Ohio?

News 5

By: Katie McGraw

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and last updated

Hurricane Milton has only a few more hours over water and is heading toward Florida's west coast. The current forecast has Milton making landfall late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning near Tampa.

The good news is that Milton has weakened quite a bit over the last day. The bad news is it is expected to still be a major hurricane at landfall, meaning that Milton is likely to be a Category 3 storm at landfall.

A Category 3 storm has max winds of 111-129 mph, and devastating damage will occur. Well-built framed homes may incur major damage or removal of roof decking and gable ends. Many trees will be snapped or uprooted, blocking numerous roads.

Electricity and water will be unavailable for several days to weeks after the storm passes. Unnamed hurricanes of 1909, 1910, 1929, 1933, 1945, and 1949 were all Category 3 storms when they struck South Florida, as were King of 1950, Betsy of 1965, Jeanne of 2004, and Irma of 2017.

The hurricane-force winds are not the only concern. There will also be a large area of destructive storm surge, with the highest inundations of 10 feet or greater, which is expected along a portion of the west-central coast of the Florida Peninsula.

That is an extremely life-threatening situation. Additionally, heavy rainfall across the Florida Peninsula through Thursday brings the risk of catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding along with moderate to major river flooding. Lastly, damaging winds, life-threatening storm surges, and heavy rainfall will extend well outside the forecast cone of uncertainty.

Following landfall, winds will gradually decrease, but it is expected to be a hurricane still as it moves off the east coast of Florida on Thursday. It will then continue to move east into the Atlantic Ocean as a tropical storm. Thankfully, Northeast Ohio will not receive any impacts from this system as it is expected to become a fish storm over the ocean and eventually weaken and dissipate early next week.