Hurricane Milton Spawns Tornado Outbreak Ahead Of FL Landfall

FLORIDA — Skies swirled over parts of Florida on Wednesday, spawning dangerous funnel clouds and dozens of tornado warnings ahead of Hurricane Milton's predicted landfall early Thursday.

Hurricane Milton was upgraded to a Category 5 storm on Tuesday evening before it weakened slightly overnight. As of Wednesday, the storm remained a Category 4 with 130 mph sustained winds as it barreled across the Gulf toward Florida's west coast.

Milton is expected to make landfall as a major hurricane in the greater Tampa Bay area around 2 a.m. Thursday.

• RELATED: Hurricane Milton Approaches FL As Powerful Cat. 4 Storm

Ahead of Milton's projected landfall, at least four dozen tornado warnings were issued for counties across parts of central and southern Florida, according to the National Weather Service. Charlotte, DeSoto, Highlands, Lee, Polk and Hardee counties were among those under tornado warnings Wednesday.

Two large tornadoes moved across Interstate 75 in the Florida Everglades around 10 a.m. Wednesday, moving north between the towns of Miles City and Andytown, according to Accuweather.

The first warning was upgraded to a "particularly dangerous tornado warning" as it moved north towards Lake Okeechobee around 10:15 a.m., Accuweather reported.

At 12:51 p.m., a confirmed "large and extremely dangerous tornado" formed 12 miles north of Fort Myers, the National Weather Service said.

“This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. TAKE COVER NOW!” the NWS wrote.

Social media posts showed a large tornado appear to strike the town of Matlacha, west of Cape Coral. Later, damage was seen in the area.

Another tornado was confirmed near the town of Weston, near Clewiston and in Lakeport, the Weather Channel and NWS officials reported.

It's unclear if anyone was injured.

Tornadoes were likely to form Wednesday and Wednesday night across parts of central and southern Florida as Milton nears the state's Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said in an afternoon update.

The National Weather Service issued several tornado watches Wednesday morning from Tampa to Palm Bay and areas south. Watches are issued when widespread tornado activity is possible. The watches were in effect through 9 p.m. Wednesday.

As Milton moves into Florida, the risk will spread north, with the greatest risk being from Tampa and Orlando southward to the Florida Keys and up to Port St. Lucie, according to Accuweather.

Why is Milton producing so many tornadoes? According to a CNN report, the storm's outer rainbands are mixing with a front draped over Florida, giving the atmosphere an extra boost of energy.

Temperatures are also expected to warm through the afternoon before Milton’s heaviest rain and thick cloud cover arrives, which will likely fuel severe thunderstorms.