-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email Hurricane Milton is shattering records , becoming the fifth-strongest storm in the Atlantic Basin's recorded history by barometric pressure, strengthening into a Category 5 storm in just 10 hours. It has become so severe that President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency in the soon-to-be-affected areas — is now expected to make landfall in Florida on late Wednesday. The good news for residents of the Sunshine State is that experts anticipate it will weaken into a Category 3 storm by that time, meaning that it will likely have winds between 111 to 129 mph (180 to 210 kph) instead of in excess of 157 mph (252 kph).
Yet according to experts who spoke with Salon, Milton is still going to be quite dangerous — and Floridians need to prepare accordingly. "Hurricane Milton is an exceedingly strong and dangerous storm, which is predicted to make landfall in the west coast of Florida and bring hazards of storm surge, rain-fed flooding and extreme winds/tornadic activity — people should take the warnings and recommendations from disaster managers very seriously," Gabriel A. Vecchi, a Princeton University professor of geosciences, told Salon.
"This storm is likely to be much more dangerous than those that people have experienced in the Tampa area. Further, hurricanes have impacts far from their center and dangerous currents can linger for days after the passage of a storm — it is essential to heed the warnings and recommendations c.
