"Given the track over the very deep warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and little shear for the next couple of days, rapid intensification is explicitly forecast," NHC hurricane specialist Eric Blake said at 10 a.

People across Florida were given notice Sunday that Milton, for now just a tropical storm off the coast of Mexico, could intensify rapidly into a major hurricane before slamming midweek into the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Milton is expected to form Sunday and grow into a major hurricane that will hit Florida’s Gulf Coast with potentially “life-threatening” storm surge, flooding and