Hurricane Milton already impacting Philly airport as it approaches Florida

As Hurricane Milton approaches Florida, it’s already having an impact here in Philadelphia.

At least 50 flights were canceled at Philadelphia International Airport Wednesday morning, according to FlightAware. Nearly all were related to airport closures in Florida in preparation for Hurricane Milton’s arrival.

Tampa International Airport, St. Pete-Clearwater Airport, Orlando International Airport, and Daytona Beach International Airport had all suspended operations Wednesday morning as Hurricane Milton approaches Florida.

“We will resume commercial operations as soon as it is safe,” Orlando International Airport wrote on social media.

As of 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, Hurricane Milton was a Category 4 storm with wind speeds approaching 155 mph. It was 250 miles off the Florida coast southwest of Tampa and forecast to make landfall tonight into early Thursday. The storm has grown in size over the past 24 hours, and forecasters expect it to continue to grow as it approaches the shoreline.

“The track of Hurricane Milton continues to be a worst-case scenario for the Tampa Bay region southward to Charlotte,” the National Weather Service said in a briefing Wednesday morning.

Orlando is home to many popular theme parks, and nearly all of them — including Disney World, Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando, and Legoland Florida — have closed ahead of the arrival of the storm.

“It is likely the theme parks will remain closed on Thursday, October 10,” Disney said in a stateent.

While the storm has the potential to devastate Florida, it’s not expected to bring much rain or wind to the Philadelphia region or even the Jersey Shore.

“I don’t think there’s any way Milton’s moisture” gets anywhere near the Philly area, Tom Kines, an AccuWeather senior meteorologist, told The Inquirer.

» READ MORE: What Philly’s growing dry spell has to do with Hurricanes Milton and Helene

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.