Hurricane Milton damage, aftermath: Powerful storm leaves path of destruction

Hurricane Milton has left a path of destruction across portions of the Florida Peninsula.

The storm made landfall around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night as an extremely dangerous Category 3 hurricane near Siesta Key, Florida, a barrier island in Sarasota County. At landfall, the storm had maximum sustained winds at 120 mph – a major hurricane that not only brought extreme winds to the Sunshine State but also several tornadoes, power outages, dangerous storm surge and flooding. 

Watch live continuous coverage of the storm here.

In fact, some Florida communities saw more than 7 inches of rain before Milton even made landfall. And talking about tornadoes – by 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service, three Florida NWS offices had issued 133 tornado warnings associated with Hurricane Milton. 

Milton is forecast to continue pushing east of Florida’s Atlantic coast through Thursday, allowing weather conditions to begin to improve for much of the state and give residents and authorities an opportunity to assess the damage.

Milton is the third hurricane to make landfall in the state of Florida this season. Debby was the first hurricane in August, followed by Hurricane Helene in September. And unfortunately, we have several weeks to go before the end of hurricane season. In fact, the Atlantic Hurricane Season officially ends on Nov. 30.

In the meantime, our weather here in Boston is quiet but cool on this Thursday. High temperatures will only reach the upper 50s for most areas. We’ll see a mix of sun and clouds today. Then, Thursday night, expect mostly clear skies and low temperatures in the mid 40s.

If you have a chance late Thursday night, look up! Space weather forecasts are hinting at ideal conditions for the northern lights to be seen here in New England. G4 (severe) geomagnetic storm conditions have been forecast, so keep your fingers crossed!

On Friday, our temperatures will rebound into the mid 60s. Highs will be close to 70 degrees on Saturday.

By Sunday, a few showers will move in later in the day ahead of a low pressure system. A few showers will continue overnight into early Monday. High temperatures will be in the low 60s for both Sunday and Monday.

Highs will cool into the mid 50s by Tuesday.