Hurricane Milton's destruction came into focus Thursday, as the death toll grew to five in St. Lucie County, Florida alone and more than 3 million were left without power throughout the state.
The big picture: The death toll could continue to rise, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a mid-day news conference Thursday.
A severe geomagnetic storm could bring the northern lights to a large portion of the country this week, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center said Wednesday.
Why it matters: While solar storms can trigger breathtaking celestial light shows in the night sky, they can cause "detrimental impacts" to critical technology and possible widespread voltage control problems, NOAA said.
Hurricane Milton's destruction was still emerging across Florida after it made landfall Wednesday night as a Category 3storm with powerful winds and flooding rains.
The big picture: There were widespread outages into Thursday morning from the hurricane, which damaged buildings and spawned a tornado outbreak ahead of landfall, with multiple deaths reported in suspected tornadoes in St. Lucie County.
South Florida officials have confirmed fatalities from a tornado outbreak as Hurricane Milton approached the state on Wednesday.
The big picture: Nearly 100 tornado warnings were issued in South Florida — where officials in St. Lucie County told WPBF-TV there had been multiple deaths after six-12 suspected tornadoes related to the storm touched down at the same time.
Hurricane Milton is expected to be a "dangerous major hurricane" when it reaches Florida's west-central coast Wednesday night as the storm remains on track for a potentially calamitous landfall near or just south of Tampa Bay.
Threat level: The storm track is looking likely to slip just south of Tampa Bay to a point between there and Sarasota. Where the peak surge hits will cause widespread, potentially "catastrophic" destruction, the National Weather Service warned.
Why it matters: Grazer, the reigning champ of Fat Bear Week, repeated as the chubbiest again this year by besting her nemesis, Chunk, a dominant male bear who previously killed one of her cubs.
