Hurricane Milton, a Category 3 storm, is churning toward Florida’s west coast . The Tampa Bay area , home to more than 3.3 million people, is facing the possibility of widespread destruction after avoiding direct hits from major hurricanes for more than a century.
Follow AP’s coverage of tropical weather at https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes . Here’s the latest: MIAMI — The U.
S. National Hurricane Center considers official landfall to be when the exact center of a tropical cyclone meets a coastline. But that doesn’t mean it’s also when the storm’s strongest winds hit.
“Because the strongest winds in a tropical cyclone are not located precisely at the center, it is possible for a cyclone’s strongest winds to be experienced over land even if landfall does not occur. Similarly, it is possible for a tropical cyclone to make landfall and have its strongest winds remain over the water,” the center says on its website. MIAMI — As of 8 p.
m. Wednesday, Milton was centered about 20 miles (30 kilometers) west-southwest of Sarasota, Florida, and had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph), the U.S.
National Hurricane Center reported. The Category 3 storm was “close to making landfall.” It was moving northeast at 15 mph (28 kph), slowing slightly from earlier in the afternoon.
PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Pasco County on Florida's west coast north of Tampa has joined other counties in suspending all emergency services in response to Hurricane Milton’s impact, acc.