Hurricane Milton is a dangerous category 5 hurricane before dawn on Wednesday morning. Landfall is expected tonight, but a high-impact weather event is likely to precede landfall.
I expect numerous supercell thunderstorms within Milton's outer bands this morning into the afternoon, likely producing an outbreak of tornadoes across central and southern Florida. The region along and south of I-4 from Tampa to Orlando seems most at risk for what I think may be one of the more significant tropical cyclone induced tornado outbreaks in recent memory.
The stage is set with a volatile thermal environment across central and southern Florida as Milton approaches. Beginning this morning into the afternoon, the favorably sheared region of Milton's front right quadrant will overspread this region. This will set the stage for a high-end environment favorable for organized, rotating thunderstorms. Not only do I expect a high number of tornadoes today, I think a couple could be of the strong, damaging, long-lived variety.
Folks who rightly evacuated coastal areas to avoid the storm surge by moving inland will want to keep an eye on the radar and watch for warnings through the day today.
