‘Potentially Catastrophic’ Hurricane Michael Forecast to Be the First Category 4 Hurricane Landfall on the Florida Panhandle
At a Glance
- Michael has intensified to a Category 3 major hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Hurricane Michael is expected to make landfall along the Florida Panhandle Gulf coast Wednesday.
- Michael is forecast to strengthen to a Category 4 hurricane prior to landfall.
- A Category 4 or stronger hurricane has never made landfall on the Florida Panhandle.
- Dangerous storm surge, damaging winds and flooding rain are likely impacts along the northeastern Gulf Coast.
- Hurricane warnings and storm surge warnings have been issued along the Gulf coast of Florida.
- Heavy rain and strong winds will spread farther inland across parts of the Southeast after landfall.
- Tropical storm warnings and watches are posted along the Southeast coast as far north as the Outer Banks.
Hurricane Michael has intensified to a Category 3 major hurricane and is forecast to strengthen to a Category 4 before making landfall on the Florida Panhandle Gulf coast Wednesday with life-threatening storm surge flooding, destructive winds and flooding rainfall. Michael will also spread heavy rain and strong winds to other parts of the southeastern United States after it moves inland.
“A potentially catastrophic event is developing,” the National Weather Service office in Tallahassee, Florida, wrote in its hurricane local statement Tuesday evening. “Locations may be uninhabitable for weeks or months.”
If Michael achieves Category 4 intensity and makes landfall at that strength, as forecast by the National Hurricane Center, it would be the strongest hurricane to ever come ashore along the Florida Panhandle in records dating to 1851, according to Dr. Phil Klotzbach, tropical scientist at Colorado State University. In fact, Florida’s entire Gulf coast north of Punta Gorda has never recorded a Category 4-plus hurricane landfall.