FLORIDA – Hurricane Milton weakened slightly to a still-powerful Category 3 storm Wednesday afternoon on a path toward Florida’s central west coast, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane, which is expected to make landfall Wednesday night, caused a string of tornadic supercell storms to begin sweeping across the state’s southern peninsula.

The National Weather Service in Miami observed at least four twisters, including a “multi-vortex tornado,” in the early afternoon as meteorologists reported storm surge starting to arrive along the southwestern Florida coast. Tornado warnings were issued for multiple cities, adding to hurricane and storm surge warnings already in place for many of those same places. After unfurling into an explosive, massive Category 5 storm with formidable winds topping 180 mph on Monday, Milton’s sustained wind speeds began to decline as the storm approached landfall. Earlier, forecasters described it as a “catastrophic” hurricane.

“Fluctuations in intensity are likely while Milton moves across the eastern Gulf of Mexico, but Milton is expected to be a dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the west-central coast of Florida,” the Miami-based hurricane center said.

CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan said the latest forecast track shows Milton making landfall over or near southern Sarasota, Florida, at some point between 10 p.m. and midnight ET as a Category 3 hurricane. Earlier forecasts had predicted Milton would arrive as a low-end Category 4 storm. (CBS)…[+]