Hurricane Milton rebounded to Category 5 status on Tuesday afternoon as the powerful storm moved over the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) attributed the upgrade to maximum sustained winds rising up to 165 miles per hour.
4pm CDT Oct 8th Key Messages for #Hurricane #Milton which has become a Category 5 hurricane again:
Large area of destructive storm surge expected along portion of west-central coast of #Florida Peninsula. If you are in a Storm Surge Warning area, please evacuate if told by local… pic.twitter.com/JRNnFfKLu5
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) October 8, 2024
Milton, which has oscillated between Category 4 and 5 over the past 24 hours, is still expected to make landfall along the west-central coast of Florida on Wednesday night.
However, the NHC signaled a degree of caution in its Tuesday afternoon forecast.
