Hurricane Milton tornado outbreak

Hurricane Milton's outer bands generated a historic and destructive tornado outbreak as the tropical cyclone neared and tracked across the Florida peninsula on October 8–9, 2024. 46 confirmed tornadoes touched down in the state, with at least three reaching EF3 intensity on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. This was the fourth such hurricane or its remnants to produce an intense (EF3+) tornado in the United States during the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, after Beryl, Debby and Helene. Milton, the second Category 5 hurricane of the season, ultimately weakened to a Category 3 before making landfall in Florida. Six people were confirmed to have died as a result of the tornado outbreak, with an estimated 30 being injured, mostly coming from two EF3 tornadoes: The Lakewood Park-Vero Beach tornado, and the Wellington tornado.

A total of 45 confirmed tornadoes touched down in Florida ahead of the storm between October 8–9, focused on the Florida Heartland, the Treasure Coast and the Space Coast. This became the largest single day of tornadoes in state history, surpassing Hurricane Irma. At 6 pm, the National Weather Service office in Miami, which covers much of South Florida except the Florida Keys of Monroe County, reported that they had issued 55 tornado warnings, a record high in one day beating out the previous record of 37 on September 27, 2022, during Hurricane Ian, and confirmed nine tornadoes on a preliminary basis. The NWS in Tampa Bay also set a record high of 29 tornado warnings in one day, beating the previous record of 23 held by both Tropical Storm Debby of 2012 and Tropical Storm Andrea on June 6, 2013. In total, a record 126 tornado warnings have been issued throughout the state, the second-most of any state in one day, only behind Alabama on April 27, 2011, at the height of the 2011 Super Outbreak. Milton was also the first tropical cyclone to generate an intense (EF3 or stronger) tornado in Florida since Agnes in 1972 and the third on record since 1950, the first occurring in 1959. Milton also yielded Florida's fifth deadliest outbreak in 70 years, behind the 1998 Kissimmee tornado outbreak, which killed 42; the 2007 Groundhog Day tornado outbreak, which killed 21; the March 31, 1962, outbreak, which killed 17; and the Hurricane Agnes outbreak, which killed seven.