Shortstack: Hurricane Milton intensifies, prepares to make history on Florida's Sun Coast

Evacuation orders have been issued for millions of people across Florida’s west-central coast as Hurricane Milton, now a Category 5 hurricane, crawls toward Tampa.

The Sun Coast area of Florida has never had a direct hit from a major hurricane with a minimum central pressure below 930 mbar – at least not since record keeping began in 1851. The latest models show Milton’s minimum pressure as 911 mbar.

Hurricane Ian (2022) was the strongest storm to ever hit the west-central Gulf Coast of Florida, but did so running mostly parallel along its coastline – not a direct, perpendicular hit, which causes the most extreme levels of storm surge and damage. So did Charley (2004). The 1921 Tampa Bay Hurricane hooked toward Tampa, but the storm’s track and axis still wouldn’t be considered a direct, perpendicular hit.