If Milton tracks closer to where Helene made landfall it will be the first time two hurricanes made landfall nearby in the same season since 2020.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — On Thursday, September 26 Helene made landfall in the big bend of Florida as a major category 4 hurricane. Now, category 5 Hurricane Milton is forecast to make landfall nearby.
Milton is expected to make landfall as a category 3 or 4 major hurricane on Wednesday, October 9, less than two weeks after Helene.
The forecast cone of uncertainty has Tampa Bay in its crosshair, but Milton could make landfall anywhere within the cone. That means the center of Milton could make landfall anywhere between Cedar Key and Fort Myers.
📧 Have breaking news come to you: Subscribe to News 2 email alerts →
If Milton makes landfall closer to Cedar Key then it will be bringing its worst impacts to folks that are still cleaning up from Helene. The city of Tampa saw several feet of storm surge from Helene, but if Milton makes landfall north of Tampa Bay it will bring up to 15 feet of storm surge.
Tampa Bay is highly susceptible to storm surges because of its large size and very shallow waters.
If Milton makes a more southerly track it will bring much less impact to the areas hit hard by Helene, but it will devastate the Fort Myers area.
If Milton tracks closer to where Helene made landfall it will be the first time two hurricanes made landfall nearby in the same season since 2020.
The 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season was the most active on record with 31 named storms.
In 2020, Hurricanes Laura and Delta made landfall near Lake Charles, Louisiana. Laura was a category 4 at landfall and Delta was a category 2 when it made landfall.
That was only four years ago, so it might not seem that rare, but the last time before 2020 was 2005 when Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita made landfall in Louisana.
So, the last two times this occurred were during two of the most active and historic hurricane seasons ever.
This is rare, but over the last 20 years, we have been seeing more and more major hurricanes impacting areas along the Gulf Of Mexico.