Hurricane Milton becomes a hurricane as it heads toward Florida – NBC 6 South Florida

Milton became a hurricane this Sunday. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), it is expected to arrive near Tampa on Wednesday and be at least Category 3.

At 4:00 p.m. CDT, the hurricane’s center was 275 miles west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and 805 miles southwest of Tampa, Florida. The maximum sustained wind was 85 mph and it was moving east at 7 mph. Milton is expected to reach major hurricane status in a day or two; Category 3 classification would require minimum sustained winds of 111 miles per hour.

According to the NHC bulletin, hurricane warnings were issued for the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Celestún to Cabo Catoche and a tropical storm warning east from Cabo Catoche to Cancún. A flood warning is in effect for South Florida until Thursday morning.

WARNINGS AND NOTICES

• We are under a flood watch for South Florida until Thursday morning.

• A tropical storm watch is in effect from Celestun to Cancun, Mexico.

• A tropical storm watch is in effect east of Cape Catoche to Cancún.

The system has already begun dumping showers and thunderstorms across the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and will progress slowly, according to the NHC forecast.

The NHC reported that the system’s areas of interest are the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, the Florida Peninsula, the Florida Keys and the northwestern Bahamas.

The impact MILTON could leave behind

The NHC expects the tropical storm to cause flooding in Florida and up to 10 cm of rain in parts of the Yucatan Peninsula and western Cuba Sunday through Wednesday.

The system would gain hurricane strength along its path, resulting in strong winds and the risk of storm surges.