The Florida Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection warned of a Category 4 Category 1 Hurricane before it was upgraded to Category 4 on Tuesday. The NOAA Administrator warned that a tropical storm is expected to pass by mid-April

The agency warned of the power of the storm, even though it was upgraded to a Category 4 storm. “Milton poses an extremely serious threat to Florida and residents are urged to follow the order of local officials,” the NHC said.

“Hurricane conditions are expected in the warning area on the west coast of Florida as early as Wednesday afternoon, with tropical storm conditions beginning early Wednesday,” the agency said.

Several government facilities and school districts in the area will be closed for several days. The state and local officials have warned everyone to follow the ordered evacuated areas.

“You don’t have to leave your home hundreds of miles away,” the governor said. You can go to any of the places in every county. Maybe it’s a friend’s house, maybe it’s a hotel, maybe it’s a shelter.”

Air travel into and around Florida is starting to be disrupted by a new storm. The Tampa International Airport said it was pausing flights beginning Tuesday morning. The Federal Aviation Administration said on X, formerly Twitter, that it was “closely monitoring” the path of the hurricane and advised travelers to check the agency’s flight travel dashboard and their airlines.

Scientists are also exploring whether climate change is causing storms to gain strength more quickly, as Hurricanes Beryl, Helene, and Milton have all done this year. When storms intensify rapidly, it can be difficult to prepare and evacuate communities in time.

Warmer ocean water can lead to more severe flooding. Flooding can be caused by floods due to huge amounts of water falling as rain when storms like Hurricane Helene move towards the coast.

Climate change and the recent El Naka weather pattern are to blame for the Atlantic Ocean becoming hotter than average for more than 18 months.

In 2012, only two hurricanes hit the U.S., and both were Category 1 at landfall. But one was Hurricane Sandy, which caused tens of billions of dollars in damage up and down the East Coast.

People in Florida are running out of time to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall along the state’s western coastline, now expected as early as Wednesday night.

“There’s going to be impacts far beyond wherever the eye of the storm is,” DeSantis said Tuesday. “You should be executing your plan now. If you’re going to get out, get out now. You have time today. Time will be running out very shortly if you wait any longer.”