EXCLUSIVE: Weather expert Jim Dale warned that Florida could be hit by a combination of super tornadoes and 150mph winds
A weather expert has warned that Hurricane Milton could bring with it 160mph winds and “200mph uncontrollable wind demons”.
The storm, which follows soon after Hurricane Helene, is due to strike the US state of Florida within the next two days and there are fears it could bring with it massive damage and devastation to the state.
Tampa’s Mayor Jane Castor has stated that people must be prepared and do whatever they need to do in order to get out of evacuation zones A and B.
She said: “There has never been a hurricane like this in Tampa, Helene was a wake up call and this is literally catastrophic. If you choose to stay in those evacuation areas, you’re going to die”.
Weather expert Jim Dale told the Mirror that whilst Milton may not cause as many deaths as Helene – in large part due to the number of people evacuating – it could still cause widespread damage and dangerous weather phenomena.
These include super tornadoes that could form inside Milton, meaning residents of Florida could find themselves at the mercy of two deadly weather events at the same time.
Jim explained: “We could have tornadoes within a hurricane as it crosses land, you could have super tornadoes and the hurricane at the same time. In exactly the same way as hurricanes, there’s a league table.
“In this case Fujita scale…so these things move up between zero and five with five being the highest in terms of mph, these are gusts rather than sustained winds. If you’ve got a category 5 super tornado, you have gusts of over 200mph. I think what will happen is there’ll either be zero, or a few scattered around.
“You can get them on a thunderstorm cell up to 200 miles from the centre of the hurricane. What happens is that the hurricane creates quite a lot of instability, they’re thunderstorms that turn into tornadoes. In either case, you think you’re out of it and you get one of these 200mph uncontrollable wind demons.”
Despite the fact that millions are evacuating from soon-to-be-affected areas, deaths from Milton are sadly still expected. However, Jim says there may not be as many despite the ferocity of the incoming storm.
He said: “I think it will be a lot less than Helene because the warnings are out there so I don’t expect it to hit 200. I do expect it to hit maybe a couple of dozen, either climate deniers, those who can’t move, or bare-chested fools who believe they can stand up to Mother Nature’s wrath for the most part.”
Part of the reason for the anxiety around Milton is its power. At the moment, reports suggest it is currently at a category five, the highest and most powerful category for a hurricane. This means winds of up to and above 157mph, and even if it drops a category, three or four parts of Florida could still be buffeted by wind speeds of between 111mph and 156mph.
Any damage, warned Jim, would be devastating and deadly to anyone standing in the storm’s way. He cautioned: “If it goes in at a category four, trees will be snapped, power cables down and houses destroyed, it’s like a full-on train hitting you.
“Even a category three is considered to be major. Those are the statuses in terms of the wind. The big thing is the western side of Florida you’re going to expect a tidal surge with waves estimated to be 10-15 feet high. If you’re stood on the beach two or three times above your head, you won’t survive.”
