NORTH TEXAS – According to the National Hurricane Center's update at 7:48 p.m. EDT, Hurricane Milton is still expected to make landfall near Tampa as a major hurricane sometime Wednesday afternoon or evening.

Until a more clearly defined circulation center forms, there will continue to be uncertainty regarding the track and intensity upper limit. Currently, the cone of uncertainty stretches across most of West Florida, all the way to the abyss of the Apalachicola National Forest.

Given the amount of time Milton is expected to spend over the open, warm waters of the Gulf, it is not unreasonable to assume that it could reach Category 4 strength or higher before landfall. The route should be more defined by tomorrow evening.

For us: On Monday there will be almost Colorado-like dryness! This will feel like a pleasant shock compared to what we are used to.

Future temperatures on Tuesday morning. Make a plan early to do something outside! 😉

Looking forward, our upper air pattern shows a slight change. One of the large models is also trying to produce some precipitation, but it's too early to draw conclusions. However, there may be slight disturbances to the jet stream as it dips further south in the CONUS.

The American model tends to show slight chances of precipitation over a longer period of time. I'm not convinced yet, but this is a positive change. We just hope nothing happens at the State Fair over Red River weekend!

7 day forecast. Check out the start of Wednesday morning! I also gave in and assessed a very low chance of rain on Friday next week. 🙂

I wish you a nice end to your weekend!