Met Éireann monitoring Hurricane Milton as it sets course across Atlantic: 'We're keeping an eye on it'

The potentially deadly storm is expected to make its way across the ocean after wreaking havoc in Florida on Wednesday and Thursday

Met Éireann is closely monitoring Hurricane Milton, with the potentially deadly storm set to make its way across the Atlantic after striking Florida later today.

Milton has been described as “an extremely dangerous major hurricane” by US weather authorities, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has warned locals that it’s “going to be like nothing they have ever seen before”.

It’s expected to bring torrential rain, flash flooding, high winds, and possible storm surges. Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued in 11 Florida counties.

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It’s set to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday evening and will sweep across the state before heading out into the Atlantic, and Ireland’s national forecaster is keeping a close eye on its path.

It currently looks like the ex-hurricane will remain south of Irish shores but its course can be difficult to predict, and Milton is certain to have an impact on the weather here regardless of whether it strikes us directly.

“There is quite a degree of uncertainty,” a spokeswoman for Met Éireann told the Irish Mirror. “We’re not expecting a direct hit but we are keeping an eye on it.

“It’s crossing into the Atlantic but it’s quite far south of us, so it’s not going to be like [Hurricane] Ophelia, which had a more northerly trough and impacted us more directly,” she explained.

The forecaster is not anticipating a direct impact from Milton, but the spokeswoman warned that “there are always indirect effects from these hurricanes”. It’s expected to interact with the Gulf Stream – the warm current that flows across the Atlantic towards Ireland, which governs much of our weather.

“It won’t be a hurricane at that stage, it will have weakened significantly, but it will interact with the Gulf Stream and how it affects us and our weather – it will become a more uncertain forecast for next week,” she said.

Hurricane Ophelia originated in the Atlantic in October 2017, becoming the worst storm to affect Ireland in 50 years. It brushed the Azores before moving northeast and striking Ireland and Britain, before progressing into Norway.

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