Hurricane Milton strengthened on Sunday night into a Category 1 storm, with wind speeds reaching 85 mph, as it moved through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Milton’s forecast cone covers almost the entire west coast of Florida as the state prepared for the largest mass evacuation since 2017. Milton could be a major hurricane when it

Hurricane Milton was continuing to strengthen in the Gulf of Mexico and was forecast to become a major hurricane later Monday as it inched toward a midweek landfall along the west coast of Florida, where residents are still reeling from the impacts of Hurricane Helene,