AccuWeather's Bernie Rayno and Alex DaSilva update Hurricane Milton's expected landfall in Florida to late tonight at 11 p.m. local time, as the storm accelerates towards the Sunshine State.
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00:00We've seen a lot of changes with Milton. I think one of the primary changes is that acceleration
00:07to the northeast. Yeah, the storm is starting to be picked up by a dip in the jet stream. It's
00:12really starting to accelerate right now, but also what we're seeing is the eye really filled in. We
00:17don't have that clear view all the way down to the ocean anymore. The eye is filled in. The winds
00:22have come down a little bit, but I think the wind field has started to get bigger as well. The storm
00:26is likely undergoing an eye wall replacement cycle, and so when that happens, the wind field
00:31expands. So we might see the winds continue to come down a little bit, but the wind field is
00:35going to expand and expand. The other notice, listen, these hurricanes don't move in straight
00:42lines. They wobble back and forth. We'll show you the water vapor loop. I want you to watch it
00:47closely. You can clearly see a little bit of a wobble north, and that's important. Miles are
00:54going to matter. You mentioned that before for the landfall location near the Tampa area, but
01:00certainly you're seeing it too that move to the north. Yeah, that certainly concerns me. We're
01:05going to have to watch to see if this bobble to the north is a trend or if it's just a little bit
01:09of a wiggle, because if it is a trend to the north, we have to be certainly concerned that
01:14this storm can still come in around the St. Petersburg area, which again would be the worst
01:18case scenario for the Tampa Bay area. But you can see on this image as well, look how fast those
01:23clouds are moving north of the storm right there. The storm is moving into an area of higher wind
01:27shear, and that should allow the winds to keep coming down. But like I said, the wind field is
01:32going to be expanding. The storm is going to grow much, much larger over the next couple of hours.
01:37I want to take you out to the radar. And again, what we're also seeing here, though, is lightning
01:42in the northeastern quadrant. Explain the significance of that lightning in the northeastern
01:47quadrant of the eyewall of Milton. Yeah, when we typically see lightning, that's an indication of
01:52a strengthening storm or at least a storm that is leveling off. So I don't expect the winds to come
01:56down very much. This is likely to still be a Category four hurricane once it makes landfall
02:02later today. But the forward speed, it's moving a little bit faster. So that would give it less
02:06time to lose wind intensity before making landfall. So we are still calling for a Category four
02:12hurricane later on today. Yeah. And there's that landfall anywhere from Indian Rocks to South
02:18Venice Beach. Devastating storm surge on the southern side. AccuWeather lead hurricane expert
02:24Alex Da Silva. Alex, thanks for joining us here on AccuWeather Early.