Milton is now a hurricane, a threat to Florida

Since Sunday afternoon, Milton has rapidly become a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.

The storm is expected to continue to strengthen before making landfall on Florida's west coast sometime Wednesday as a major hurricane threat.

The National Hurricane Center says that “there is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and wind impacts for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning late Tuesday or Wednesday.”

Hurricane and storm surge watches are expected to be required in parts of Florida later Sunday. Tropical storm watches and warnings have been issued for parts of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Know your evacuation zone now and plan for additional power outages in the coming days.

(CARD TRACKER: Track the storm here)

Where the storm is currently raging: The hurricane is raging over the Gulf of Mexico, nearly 300 miles northwest of the Yucatan Peninsula. It is expected to move east or northeast toward the Florida Peninsula and then into the Atlantic Ocean.

Many of the current computer forecasts indicate that a stronger hurricane threat is increasing for Florida, and the NHC is currently forecasting the system to approach Florida as a Category 3+ hurricane.

Milton could pass well south of the Florida Big Bend and is not expected to bring as much of a boost as Helene did in this region. However, some areas that experienced storm surge from Helene could very well experience storm surge from this system, particularly from Pinellas County to Naples. There is an outside view that the storm surge may be higher than Helene brought in one or two places, particularly further south.

I​impacts forecast

Possible flooding: Rainfall is expected to arrive well in advance of this system's arrival as a frontal boundary descends into the region. Isolated heavy rain showers began across Florida on Sunday. Flood monitoring is already in place for large parts of the peninsula.

The heaviest rain is expected to hit the Florida peninsula on Tuesday or Wednesday.

(For even more detailed weather data tracking in your area, see your 15-minute forecast in our Premium Pro experience.)

Wind damage: Most new computer forecasts suggest a Category 3 hurricane will develop, although some models have a stronger storm than that. Residents should prepare as a Category 4 or 5 hurricane is expected.

This system has the potential to bring damaging winds to the west-central or southwest coast of Florida on Tuesday evening or Wednesday, but exactly where those winds will occur and how strong they will be remains a question.

All hurricane preparations or recovery and reconstruction efforts should be completed by Tuesday evening. After that time, these efforts could be dangerous.

How much damage is caused depends on how strong the system becomes. While water temperatures are warm enough for development, wind shear over the northern Gulf of Mexico could be a barrier to Milton intensification. Wind shear could weaken this system near Florida over the Atlantic, but that is not a guarantee.

Rip currents: Strong onshore winds along Florida's Atlantic coast will create a risk of rip currents over the weekend and into the early weeks. These currents can occur even in the absence of precipitation.

A rip current threat could develop along the Gulf Coast from Tampa southward early this week.

The western Caribbean and Gulf are typical areas for tropical development in October. Click this link to see how hurricane season typically changes in the new month.

Check back with Weather.com in the coming days for updates as details become clearer.