Floridians have been issued a stark warning as they brace for the impact of Hurricane Milton’s winds and expected massive storm surge, which forecasters say could come ashore Wednesday in the Tampa Bay region.

Almost the entirety of Florida‘s west coast is under a hurricane warning early Tuesday as the storm and its 155mph winds creep toward the state at 9mph, sucking energy from the Gulf of Mexico‘s warm water.

Milton was downgraded early those morning to a Category 4 hurricane, but forecasters warn it still poses ‘an extremely serious threat to Florida.’ Milton had intensified quickly Monday, becoming a Category 5 storm at midday with maximum sustained winds of 180mph before being downgraded.

The National Weather Service in Tampa Bay has said that ‘if the storm stays on the current track, it will be the worst storm to impact the Tampa area in over 100 years.’ Mayor Jane Castor has warned the city’s nearly 400,000 residents that if they don’t evacuate, ‘you are going to die.’

Startling spaghetti models show the hurricane’s deadly path covering vast swathes of Florida.

When will Hurricane Milton make landfall?

Hurricane Milton is expected to hit the west coast of Florida on Wednesday, the National Weather Service has warned.

Forecasters say the storm will continue to grow in size and remain ‘extremely dangerous’.

Residents in impacted areas should follow advice issued by local officials and evacuate immediately if instructed to do so.

When will Hurricane Milton make landfall?

Hurricane Milton is expected to hit the west coast of Florida on Wednesday, the National Weather Service has warned.

Forecasters say the storm will continue to grow in size and remain ‘extremely dangerous’.

Residents in impacted areas should follow advice issued by local officials and evacuate immediately if instructed to do so.

Images show Hurricane Milton ramping up to Category 5 storm

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has published wild satellite images that show the speed and intensity with which Hurricane Milton ramped up into a Category 5, with speeds said to hit up to 180 miles per hour and gusts over 200.

At 10:28 a.m. EDT October 7, the space station flew over Hurricane Milton and external cameras captured views of the category 5 storm, packing winds of 175 miles an hour, moving across the Gulf of Mexico toward the west coast of Florida.

pic.twitter.com/MTtdUosiEc

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) October 7, 2024

The International Space Station also posted video as it flew over the storm on Monday morning as it moved across the Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricane Milton supercharges into monster 180mph storm so quickly experts call for it to be given unprecedented Category 6 status: ‘This is nothing short of astronomical’

With Hurricane Milton hitting winds of up to 180 miles per hour and at such a high speed, scientists are wondering if the storm defies the five category system and should go up to a Category 6.

Florida’s Gulf Coast braced on Tuesday for the impact of Hurricane Milton’s near-record winds and expected massive storm surge, which could bring destruction to areas already reeling from Helene’s devastation 12 days ago and still recovering from Ian’s wrath two years ago.

Almost the entirety of Florida’s west coast was under a hurricane warning early on Tuesday as the Category 5 storm and its 165mph winds crept toward the state at 9mph, sucking energy from the Gulf of Mexico’s warm water.

The strongest Atlantic hurricane on record is 1980’s Allen, which reached wind speeds of 190 mph as it moved through the Caribbean and Gulf before striking Texas and Mexico.

The storm, which CNN called ‘the strongest on Earth in 2024,’ was described by an Orlando meteorologist as ‘nothing short of astronomical.’

‘I am at a loss for words to meteorlogically describe you the storms small eye and intensity,’ Noah Bergen said.

Bergen reported seeing wing gusts as high as 200 miles per hour with max sustained winds at 180 mph.

‘This is now the 4th strongest hurricane ever recorded by pressure on this side of the world. The eye is TINY at nearly 3.8 miles wide. This hurricane is nearing the mathematical limit of what Earth’s atmosphere over this ocean water can produce.’

It has many asking if the storm can or should be classified as a Category 6.

While no official designation exists, scientist and author Michael E. Mann said that ‘#Milton might have actually breached the 192 mph “cat 6” cutoff.’

The five categories, based on wind speed ranges, were used to designate hurricanes since the 1970s with what’s known as the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale, developed by engineer Herbert Saffir and Robert Simpson.

The barrier for Category 5 storms is winds of 157 miles per hour.

Simpson said in 1999 that the scale doesn’t go past a Category 5 because they designed it to show the danger winds could cause buildings and to provide advice for those designing and constructing them.

Winds that would go past Category 5 would ’cause rupturing damages that are serious no matter how well it’s engineered.’

Retired scientist Jim Kossin told USA Today that a Category 5 that goes from 157 mph and beyond is ‘becoming more and more inadequate with time because climate change is creating more and more of these unprecedented intensities.’

Scientists expect the system to weaken slightly before landfall, though it could retain hurricane strength as it churns across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean.

That would largely spare other states ravaged by Helene, which killed at least 230 people on its path from Florida to the Appalachian Mountains.

Tampa Bay has not been hit directly by a major hurricane since 1921, and authorities fear luck is about to run out for the region and its 3.3 million residents.