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Tropical Storm Milton Forms in Gulf of Mexico and Could Intensify to Hurricane threatening Florida

This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken at 4:50 p.m. EDT and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Tropical Storm Milton, center, off the coast of Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (NOAA via AP)
This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken at 4:50 p.m. EDT and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Tropical Storm Milton, center, off the coast of Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (NOAA via AP)
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Tropical Storm Milton Forms in Gulf of Mexico and Could Intensify to Hurricane threatening Florida

This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken at 4:50 p.m. EDT and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Tropical Storm Milton, center, off the coast of Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (NOAA via AP)
This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken at 4:50 p.m. EDT and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Tropical Storm Milton, center, off the coast of Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (NOAA via AP)

A storm system that was brewing in the Gulf of Mexico strengthened into Tropical Storm Milton on Saturday and forecasters warned it could intensify into a hurricane and slam into the west coast of Florida later this week.

Tropical Storm Milton was about 355 miles (565 kilometers) west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 845 miles (1,360 kilometers) west-southwest of Tampa, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph) while heading east at 5 mph (8 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said early Sunday, The AP reported.

“Milton moving slowly but expected to strengthen rapidly,” the center said, noting a “risk of life-threatening impacts increasing for portions of the Florida west coast.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 35 counties ahead of the storm's potential landfall. Since many of those counties are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, DeSantis asked the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida Department of Transportation to coordinate all available resources and personnel to supplement local communities as they expedite debris removal.

Though no coastal watches or warnings were in effect, the hurricane center said the Florida Peninsula, the Florida Keys, Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and the northwestern Bahamas should monitor the system’s progress.

The storm is forecast to strengthen and bring the risk of life-threatening impacts to parts of Florida, with hurricane and storm-surge watches likely in effect from Sunday. Parts of the state are expected to have heavy rainfall beginning that day, threatening flash, urban, and areal flooding, along with some river flooding.

“There is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and wind impacts for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning late Tuesday or Wednesday. Residents in these areas should ensure they have their hurricane plan in place, follow any advice given by local officials, and check back for updates to the forecast,” the center said.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Kirk remained a Category 4 major hurricane about 1,345 miles (2,165 kilometers) west-southwest of the Azores with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) late Saturday night, the center said.

Large swells from the storm causing “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions” were affecting the Leeward Islands, Bermuda, the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas and the US. East Coast. The swells were expected to move north along the US East Coast and Canada's Atlantic Coast on Sunday and to the Azores on Monday, the center said.

Hurricane Leslie was moving northwest over the open Atlantic without posing a threat to land, forecasters said late Saturday.

The storm was located about 855 miles (1,375 kilometers) west of the southernmost Cabo Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (128 kph). There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

The storms churned as rescuers in the US Southeast searched for people unaccounted for after Hurricane Helene struck last week, leaving behind a trail of death and catastrophic damage.

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Varieties

Study Documents Extinction of 610 Bird Species, Ecological Impacts

A flock of Common Teal fly across a wetland on a winter day on the outskirts of Srinagar January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Ismail/File Photo
A flock of Common Teal fly across a wetland on a winter day on the outskirts of Srinagar January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Ismail/File Photo
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Study Documents Extinction of 610 Bird Species, Ecological Impacts

A flock of Common Teal fly across a wetland on a winter day on the outskirts of Srinagar January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Ismail/File Photo
A flock of Common Teal fly across a wetland on a winter day on the outskirts of Srinagar January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Ismail/File Photo

The Dodo, the famous flightless bird that inhabited the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, is a case study in extinction caused by humans. The Dodo, finely adapted to its isolated ecosystem but unprepared for the arrival of people, was first encountered by Dutch sailors in 1598. Hunting, habitat destruction and the introduction of non-native species doomed it in under 80 years.

It is hardly alone. New research has documented the extinction of 610 bird species over the past 130,000 years, coinciding with the global spread of our species Homo sapiens, an avian crisis that has only accelerated in recent years and decades. For instance, the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, a Hawaiian songbird, was declared extinct just last year.

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The researchers also revealed the ecological consequences, as the disappearance of avian species erases functions they serve in innumerable ecosystems, Reuters reported.

"Birds undertake a number of really important ecosystem functions, many of which we depend on, such as the dispersal of seeds, the consumption of insects, the recycling of dead material - for example, vultures - and pollination. If we lose species, then we lose these functions," said ecologist Tom Matthews of the University of Birmingham in England, lead author of the study published this week in the journal Science, opens new tab.

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"A good example of this is on the islands of Mauritius and Hawaii, where all or almost all the native frugivores - birds that eat fruit - have gone extinct," Matthews said.

The Dodo and Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, believed to have had fruit as part of their diets, were among those.

"Frugivory is an important function, as in eating the fruits and then moving around, birds will disperse the seeds of the plants the fruits belong to," Matthews said.

This can precipitate "secondary knock-on extinctions," Matthews said, with Mauritius now having many threatened tree species.

Most of the documented extinctions occurred on islands. Habitat loss can have huge effects given the isolation and reduced area involved, while the introduction of animals such as rats, cats and mice can have substantial impacts given the evolution of flightlessness among many island-endemic birds that left them unable to escape new predators, Matthews said.

Human hunting was a big extinction driver in the past and remains problematic in certain regions. Capturing birds for the songbird trade is a big issue, particularly in Southeast Asia, Matthews said.

Certain regions and species had more specific factors involved. For example, avian malaria, introduced by people, has triggered large numbers of extinctions in Hawaii - particularly among the endemic Hawaiian honeycreepers - where the birds possessed no natural immunity.

"The big unknown going forward is the role of anthropogenic climate change as a driver," Matthews said.

Some wondrous birds have been lost.

The large flightless elephant birds endemic to Madagascar vanished after people arrived, including Aepyornis maximus, possibly the largest bird that ever existed, about 10 feet (3 meters) tall. The flightless moa birds endemic to New Zealand, including the South Island giant moa that rivaled the elephant birds in size, similarly disappeared after humans colonized the islands.

North America's migratory passenger pigeon numbered in the billions, but was hunted into oblivion.

The 610 species combined represented 3 billion years of unique evolutionary history, the researchers said, with each lost species like chopping off a branch from the tree of life.

The number 610 is "likely a large underestimate" of avian extinctions, Matthews said, because of a paucity of data from some locales and the fact some lost species may not have left behind skeletal remains to be found. Regardless of the true number, Matthews said, "the vast majority of extinctions over the last 50,000 years are attributable to human actions."

About 11,000 bird species now exist, occupying a dizzying array of ecological niches. The researchers projected future extinctions of more than 1,000 species over the next two centuries.

"So even if you don't care about the moral and ethical concerns regarding the loss of species, these extinctions are important for other reasons, such as the loss of species that helped the environment to function effectively," Matthews added.

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