COLUMBIA, S.C. — The National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Florida continues classifying Hurricane Milton as a major hurricane.
As of the 5:00 pm update, Milton is a category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 180 MPH, gusting up to 220 MPH and moving to the east of 10 MPH.
Air Force hurricane hunters noted from weather data the eye width of ~10 miles. Minimum hurricane force winds of 74 MPH+ extending 50 miles wide, tropical storm winds up to 74 MPH extending 75 miles wide and gale force winds up to 50 MPH over 140 miles wide, all centering at the eye of the hurricane.
Not including most of the Panhandle, the vast majority of Florida is under hurricane or tropical storm watches and warnings.
Coastal Lowcountry counties are also under tropical storm warnings, although the trajectory of Milton's path takes it well south of the coastline of South Carolina.
Milton is forecasted to make landfall anywhere along the west coast of Florida from Cedar Key, to Tampa Bay, to Fort Myers early Thursday morning as a major category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 125 MPH.
Late Monday afternoon tropical weather computer models mostly had guidance for trajectory and landfall for Hurricane Milton mostly favor a track more south of Tampa and closer to Fort Myers.
Although this differs from the National Hurricane Center's projected path, it is important to note that with the latest powerful category 5 strength of the hurricane, to change to intensity, forward motion and direction will change.
This will make several variations to the projections from hurricane forecasters and model guidance. Monday afternoon's official forecast still has Milton as a category 5 major hurricane until at least Wednesday morning with sustained winds of 160 MPH.