On This Date: Hurricane Milton Exploded To RecordTying Intense Gulf Category 5 Jonathan ErdmanOctober 7, 2025 at 5:00 AM 0 The Atlantic hurricane season was much different one year ago than the lucky streak that has been in place in 2025 so far. On Oct.
- - On This Date: Hurricane Milton Exploded To Record-Tying Intense Gulf Category 5
Jonathan ErdmanOctober 7, 2025 at 5:00 AM
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The Atlantic hurricane season was much different one year ago than the lucky streak that has been in place in 2025 so far.
On Oct. 7, 2024, one year ago today, Hurricane Milton muscled up from a Category 2 storm in the southwest Gulf that morning to a Category 5 beast just northwest of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula that afternoon in a stunning display of rapid intensification.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Milton's central pressure plunged to an estimated 895 millibars that afternoon. That tied 2005's Hurricane Rita for the most intense Gulf hurricane by pressure and for the fourth-lowest pressure of any Atlantic hurricane. Milton's estimated winds at the time were 180 mph, one of only nine Atlantic hurricanes with peak winds that high.
After first becoming a tropical depression two days earlier, Milton's winds increased from 90 mph at 1 a.m. CDT on Oct. 7 to 180 mph just 15 hours later at 4 p.m. CDT. Light wind shear and very warm Gulf water allowed this small storm to reach this rare intensity so quickly.
It would eventually slam into western Florida at Category 3 intensity on Oct. 9 with 6 to 9 feet of storm surge and up to 20 inches of rain over areas of the Peninsula just hit by Helene two weeks prior.
Milton spawned 46 tornadoes in Florida, a modern-era record for the Sunshine State, including three twisters rated EF3. One of those EF3 tornadoes in St. Lucie County claimed six lives.
Thirty-nine were killed in the U.S. — 12 during the storm and another 27 either in the pre-storm preparations or Milton's aftermath. Three others were killed in Mexico.
An estimated $34.3 billion in damage was from Milton in the U.S., though this is uncertain given that some areas had previously been hit by Hurricane Helene.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
Source: "AOL General"
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