Hurricane Milton’s forecast cone covers almost the entire west coast of Florida as the state prepared for the largest mass evacuation since 2017. Milton could be a major hurricane when it

Hurricane Milton strengthened on Sunday night into a Category 1 storm, with wind speeds reaching 85 mph, as it moved through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The National Hurricane Center predicts that Milton will become “an intense hurricane with multiple life-threatening hazards” and will likely make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast by midweek, as the storm charts its path eastwards as a Category 1 hurricane, according to the NHC’s latest update.