Midafternoon Hurricane Milton Update: Destructive Tornado Outbreak Precedes All Hell Breaking Out

Screen grab of a traffic cam video of a large tornado
that had just crossed Interstate 75 in Florida.
A big tornado outbreak is preceding the worst
of Hurricane Milton 

Fears I mentioned this morning have been realized.

Before the worst of Hurricane Milton reached Florida, the state is being raked by a tornado outbreak that has prompted more than 50 warnings for the twisters. And counting. 

As I wrote this at 2 p.m., there were more than a dozen tornado warnings in effect across Florida. 

The tornado threat will clearly continue through the afternoon and into the evening. Tornado warnings are flying as far east as the Atlantic coast, such as just south of Melbourne. 

Some of the tornadoes that touched down have been quite destructive.  A large tornado tore the roofs off several homes around Fort Myers. Which means the winds and torrential rains of Hurricane Milton will finish those houses off. 

With the tornadoes buzzing around, the wind getting stronger, bursts of rain and storm searches creeping in this afternoon, an atmosphere of fear has taken over Florida. People are hunkered down in shelters, or have fled the worst of the hurricane zone, not knowing if they'll have homes to return to. 

As of 2 p.m. Hurricane Milton had top winds of 130 mph. Those winds are down from 165 mph this morning. This was expected. Hurricane force winds will still rake all of central Florida with this thing. 

Winds are forecast to be in the 95 to 105 mph range in a zone stretching from Tampa to Fort Myers. Gusts to 80 mph will make it across Florida, through Orlando to the Atlantic coast.

As of 2 p.m. winds were already gusting to at least 45 mph along the central Gulf Coast of Florida. 

Also, this so-called weakening trend in Hurricane Milton is happening too late to prevent the horrific storm surge that has long been anticipated. 

The area to be hit by the worst storm surges is still a bit of an open question. Hurricanes like this tend to follow a wobbly path. A slight jog of 10 miles to the north or south will make a huge difference on how the storm surge unfolds in particular towns tonight. 

For instance, if Milton heads further south than anticipated, people in Tampa Bay might be surprised by a not as bad as expected storm surge. On the other hand, if Milton shifts a little north, the storm surge in Tampa Bay would be even worse than the horrors that have already been imagined and predicted. 

The uncertainty is tough on people. Anytime people are frightened, uncertainty just makes everything worse. Hurricane Milton is obviously a physical catastrophe. It's also a mass mental health crisis for Floridians. 

The rain with this thing looks to be incredible in many areas. As of 2 p.m, Sarasota had received four inches of rain already and the hurricane was still well offshore.

This mess has only just begun. We'll do another update toward evening.