The day after Hurricane Milton, also known as the aftermath, provides the opportunity to put things in perspective based on the weather data for the storm.
The News-Press reached out to the Florida Climate Center in Tallahassee to find out the key numbers from the storm and what the takeaways were based on their reports.
“It looks like your area was spared from the worst of impacts, with much of the heavy rain and winds to the north in the St. Petersburg/Tampa and Sarasota areas,” said Emily Powell, assistant state climatologist.
Powell was able to address the numbers in both Collier and Lee counties.
She said the coastal tide gauge stations at Naples and Fort Myers reached major flood stage and the peak surge did surpass levels seen during Helene:
- 5.08 feet at Naples (Helene peaked at 4.02 feet)
- 5.26 feet at Ft Myers (Helene peaked at 5.12 feet; the record here is 7.3 feet)
“The record surge level of 7.26 feet in Fort Myers was from Hurricane Ian in 2022,” Powell said. “That means that if Milton’s storm surge level verifies, the top three storm surge events in Fort Myers will have all occurred in the past two years from Milton, Helene, and Ian.”