DOI: 10.17603/ds2-yd5c-tg94
title: NHCI Hurricane Milton Buoy Observation Summary, in NHCI: Hurricane Milton 2024 - Observations

description: These observational datasets were taken as Hurricane Milton (2024) made landfall along the Southwestern Florida. The data was collected, created or utilized for the NOPP Hurricane Coastal Impacts (NHCI) program. From Moskaitis et al. (2025): “The tropical depression that would evolve into Hurricane Milton formed in the western Bay of Campeche at 12 UTC 5 October 2024, consolidating from the southern portion of a broad area of vorticity located over the western Gulf. Over the next 12 h it moved north and strengthened into Tropical Storm Milton. At 00 UTC 6 October 2024 Milton turned to the east and took an usual eastward path across the south-central Gulf. From a minimal 35 kt tropical storm at 00 UTC 6 October 2024, Milton put on a remarkable stretch of rapid intensification, peaking as a 155 kt Category 5 hurricane at 20 UTC 7 October 2024. Its estimated central pressure at time of peak intensity is 895 mb, tying Hurricane Rita (2005) for the fourth lowest in the Atlantic basin historical record. Over the next day Milton went through an eyewall replacement cycle (ERC) and at the conclusion of this inner-core reorganization reached a secondary peak intensity of 145 kt. During the ERC, Milton sped up and started moving across the eastern Gulf towards the Florida peninsula, as it began to interact with a midlatitude trough. On Oct 9th Milton kept moving NE towards Florida, and made landfall at Siesta Key at 0030 UTC 10 October. Milton rapidly weakened on the way to landfall, as the vortex evolved towards a broad, asymmetric structure indicative of a hurricane going through the extratropical transition process. The landfall intensity was 100 kt, and the radius of maximum winds at landfall was 10 n mi.” As Milton made landfall, storm surge inundation of 6-10 feet above ground level was experiences in the area of Venice and Manasota Key, and storm surge altered beaches along the west Florida peninsula that had been significantly changed by Helene two weeks before. This dataset for Hurricane Milton includes measurements from observational wave buoys: A-size Directional Wave Spectra Drifters (A-DWSDs), microSWIFT buoys, and Spotter buoys, as well as nearshore sensors and remotely sensed satellite measurements. The wave buoys and nearshore sensors were deployed 1-2 days prior to the hurricane landfall. A full description of the storm, observations, and model assets are found in the NHCI Data and Storm Catalog: Moskaitis, J., R. Luettich, J. Thomson, M. Bilskie, J. Davis, j. veeramony, Z. Cobell, D. White, R. de Goede, A. van Dongeren, M. Schonau, C. Sherwood, J. Brown, M. Amini, N. Mumtaz, J. Dietrich, I. Houghton, R. Romeiser, J. Doyle, D. Gesch, A. Clark, S. Fraser, S. Beninati, L. Centurioni, G. de Boer, P. Smit, D. Cox, M. Olabarrieta, J. Warner, S. Klepac, A. Subgranon (2025). NHCI: NOPP Hurricane Coastal Impacts. DesignSafe-CI. https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2-y6nc-p158.
description: This report provides a graphical overview of 18 free-drifting surface buoys deployed ahead of Hurricane Milton during October 2024. Visualizations span October 8 to October 11. Three types of buoys are included: Spotter (Sofar Ocean), DWSD/A-DWSD (Lagrangian Drifter Laboratory), and microSWIFT (UW Applied Physics Lab), all of which report similar payloads. Maps and time series provide an overview of the range of wave conditions observed within Milton. Where applicable, colocated buoys from the datasets are compared.  Data for each buoy type are available within the DesignSafe project for this hurricane.