FOX WEATHER BREAKING

Downtown St. Petersburg-area residents learned of a new hazard from Hurricane Milton hours before the storm's landfall: construction cranes that could fail under 100-mph winds.

While all eyes are on Florida’s western coast ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival, things could be brewing on the east side of the Peninsula.

Florida theme park officials are monitoring Hurricane Milton's forecast, but most have yet to announce closures ahead of a forecast landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast Wednesday as a major hurricane.

In the face of severe weather or a life-threatening emergency, traditional communication networks can fail, leaving individuals isolated and at risk.

A catastrophic storm surge is expected to inundate Florida's Gulf Coast from Hurricane Milton, raising water levels by up to 12 feet above ground level in areas of onshore winds.

Hurricane Milton is exploding in intensity. By taking an extremely unusual track across the Gulf slightly farther south than forecast, Milton has a long runway in an atmospheric environment that is forecast to be extremely conducive to strengthening.

Florida is no stranger to the dangers of a tropical system, and like a tired but well-oiled machine, the gears are in motion to prepare residents ahead of Milton's arrival.

Millions of people across the Florida Peninsula are on alert as Hurricane Milton is rapidly intensifying in the Gulf of Mexico while it continues on a path toward the Sunshine State, where it’s expected to bring a potentially life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds and torrential rain to the state this week.

Tropical Storm Milton is rapidly organizing in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Center is forecasting it to reach hurricane strength by Monday, and the consensus of the computer forecast models concurs. The atmospheric pattern over the southern Gulf for the next couple of days appears very conducive for Milton to intensify.

Milton is expected to be a powerful hurricane when it approaches Florida’s Gulf Coast. Depending on the exact landfall location, communities near the hurricane’s core and southward have the potential to see the largest storm surge in their modern history.