Hurricane Milton, a powerful and expanding storm that has fluctuated between a Category 4 and 5 as it churns in the Gulf of Mexico, is set to be a "historic storm for the west coast of Florida," according to the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay.

Hurricane Milton intensifies as it moves through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida. What we know about the potentially devastating hurricane.

This year's warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico helped Hurricane Milton swiftly become a powerful hurricane, with the U.S. National Hurricane Center calling it the third-fastest intensifying Atlantic storm on record.