Why Milton is already a hurricane for the record books

Although Hurricane Milton is still hours away from landfall and has not yet caused any damage, it is already rewriting the record books, officials said.

“I think this has the potential to be the most devastating hurricane we've seen in living memory, given the magnitude of the storm surge's impact on Florida's central west coast,” Mike Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center, told ABC News.

Milton is expected to make landfall near Sarasota between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane with wind gusts in excess of 100 mph. As of Wednesday afternoon, Milton was a Category 4 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, about 150 miles southwest of Tampa, moving toward Florida's west coast at 16 miles per hour.

Once the hurricane makes landfall, it is expected to produce a storm surge of 10 to 15 feet in Sarasota and a storm surge of 8 to 12 feet from Tampa down to Fort Myers.

But the storm, the ninth hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, has already made its way into the record books.

Milton is the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic basin in terms of pressure since Hurricane Wilma, which hit Florida in 2005. The storm is also the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic basin in terms of wind speed since Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

On Monday, Milton produced maximum winds of 180 miles per hour, making it the third strongest Atlantic basin hurricane on record in terms of wind speed.

According to National Hurricane Center records, Milton is one of the fastest-intensifying hurricanes, having reached speeds of 95 miles per hour in 24 hours this week. Only Hurricanes Wilma and Felix in 2007 recorded greater intensification.

Milton is also the fifth strongest Atlantic basin hurricane ever recorded in terms of pressure intensity.

Brennan said Milton was a different beast than other hurricanes because of its “unusual” track.

“We often see hurricanes approaching Florida from the east or southeast,” Brennan said. “But this track is somewhat unusual and really represents a worst-case scenario for these very storm-sensitive areas along the west coast of Florida because Milton's circulation will push Gulf of Mexico water directly onto dry land here,” these vulnerable locations .”