Hurricane Milton re-strengthened to a Category 5 storm with 165 mph winds on Tuesday afternoon, with federal forecasters warning the storm will likely double in size before it hits Florida’s Gulf Coast.
The storm is forecast to make landfall near Tampa on Wednesday evening and could become the worst storm to hit the area in about 100 years, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned earlier this week.
Hurricane, tropical storm, and storm surge warnings have been issued for much of the Florida Gulf Coast.
“Milton’s wind field is expected to expand as it approaches Florida,” the NHC said in a discussion updated on Tuesday. “In fact, the official forecast shows the hurricane and tropical-storm-force winds roughly doubling in size by the time it makes landfall.”…