What made Hurricane Milton such a big story?

Hurricane Milton became a big story because it strengthened from a weaker storm into a full Category 5 hurricane in less than a day, one of the fastest such jumps ever recorded. Warm ocean water acts like fuel for hurricanes, and when conditions line up just right, a storm can pull in enormous amounts of energy very quickly, causing wind speeds to spike dramatically in a short window.

A storm can't last a whole year — hurricanes typically run their course over days to at most a couple of weeks before weakening over land or cooler water. And a hurricane turning into snow doesn't happen either, since hurricanes form and thrive specifically over warm tropical water, the opposite of the cold conditions snow requires.

Storms that intensify this quickly are called cases of 'rapid intensification,' and scientists have noted that warmer ocean temperatures appear to be making this kind of sudden, dangerous strengthening more common in recent hurricane seasons.