Milton explosively strengthens to Cat 5

Hurricane Milton is making history as one of the strongest storms on record for the Atlantic.

Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene's devastation across the west coast of Florida, the same region is now preparing for life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds and torrential rains.

Milton has explosively developed, undergoing extreme rapid intensification. By definition, rapid intensification is a storm's central pressure falling 24 mb and more in 24 hours.

Milton's central pressure has plummeted 47 mb in a jaw-dropping 7 hours. It's latest central pressure was marked at 897 mb, making it the 4th most intense hurricane in Atlantic history, according to central pressure.

The pressure value was recorded by NOAA's Hurricane Hunter's aircraft reconnaissance. These aircraft fly into tropical cyclones in order to gather weather data, as seen in the video above.

The storm's sustained wind speeds are currently at 180 mph, with gusts around 220 mph. A category 5 system is defined by sustained wind speeds of 157 mph and above.

Based on wind speeds, Milton is officially the 3rd strongest hurricane in Atlantic history.

Milton is expected to weaken somewhat upon landfall, though is still expected to have catastrophic impacts.

While it's exact landfall location still has some uncertainty, a staggering 10 - 15 ft of storm surge is expected along the Tampa Bay area.

This would inundate the area's high-water record set just under two weeks ago during Hurricane Helene.

As of Tuesday morning, 8th October, Hurricane Milton underwent an eyewall replacement cycle, whereby a new outer eyewall develops, which can replace the original inner eyewall, often leading to fluctuations in the storm's intensity and size.

This process can temporarily weaken a storm, as it has done with Milton, which is currently back to a Cat 4 storm, however this can often then result in a more organised and potentially stronger storm afterward.