WVTM 13 LIVE DOPPLER RADAR | HOW TO GET WEATHER ALERTS | UPLOAD YOUR WEATHER PHOTOSTHE LATEST ADVISORYSign up for our NewslettersWind speeds - 165mphDirection - E 9 mph Pressure - 914 mb Hurricane Milton rapidly strengthened from a Category 1 into a major Category 5 storm within 10 hours Monday morning.

This year's warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico helped Hurricane Milton swiftly become a powerful hurricane, with the U.S. National Hurricane Center calling it the third-fastest intensifying Atlantic storm on record.

Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday along Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm, bringing powerful winds, deadly storm surge and potential flooding to much of the state. Milton drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters,