Wedding venue in Blue Ridge, GA for couples in Melbourne, FL

Northrop Grumman may employ about 1,200 workers at its future campus expansion at Melbourne Orlando International Airport, where thousands of engineers, technicians and support staff work today on some of America's most advanced military aircraft programs.

Thursday night, the Melbourne Planning and Zoning Board unanimously recommended approval of the code-named "Project Daisy," Northrop Grumman's site plan for its future controlled-access complex off NASA Boulevard. Anchored by a large three-story office building and a high bay building measuring up to 50 feet high, this expansion zone measures 37.7 acres.

"Exciting News! Northrop Grumman is expanding its presence at Melbourne Orlando International Airport (MLB), and we couldn’t be more thrilled to see their growth alongside our incredible tenant base," airport officials said in a Wednesday LinkedIn post linking to FLORIDA TODAY's story that publicly announced the project.

"As home to over 60 world-class tenants, MLB plays a key role in driving our local economy. It’s always inspiring to see our partners like Northrop Grumman thrive and help strengthen our community!" the LinkedIn post said.

MLB expansion:Northrop Grumman to expand at Melbourne airport with large facility featuring 50' high bay

The Planning and Zoning Board's recommendation will now go to the Melbourne City Council, which next meets Nov. 12 and will cast decisive votes on the site plan. Board members Thursday engaged in scant discussion on Project Daisy, and Northrop Grumman was not publicly mentioned.

The aerospace giant proposes to construct:

In a Monday email, a Northrop Grumman spokesperson told FLORIDA TODAY, "this project represents our commitment to continue to modernize our Melbourne facility which is a 'Digital Hub for Engineering and Design' and a core Northrop Grumman site for advanced aircraft development.” He did not divulge further details.

Northrop Grumman's Melbourne facilities specialize in development of the classified U.S. Air Force B-21 Raider long-range stealth bomber, U.S. Navy's E-2D Advanced Hawkeye and Airborne Laser Mine Detection System, among other military programs.

"The site plan meets setbacks, meets parking, meets heights — check, check, check," Planning Manager Cheryl Dean told the board.

"Because of the size, because of the number of proposed employees — 1,200, approximately — a traffic study is required for NASA Boulevard," she said.

On that topic, Dean said a traffic signal will be required at the intersection of NASA Boulevard and Commerce Drive, and the office complex will have NASA Boulevard eastbound left turn lanes and westbound right turn lanes.

Average traffic in that area of NASA Boulevard is 23,530 vehicles per day, an agenda memo said.

Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale atRneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1

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CNN —

Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday night, making landfall as a powerful Category 3 storm. The intense hurricane spawned tornadoes, dumped rain across much of the state, left millions without power and claimed at least 16 lives, including five people in St. Lucie County.

As the storm has moved into the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 10 million residents remain under threat from dangerous coastal conditions through Friday. The storm’s dramatic and rapid intensification set a record as the fastest-ever Atlantic hurricane to escalate from a tropical depression to Category 5 status in just over 48 hours, according to NASA.

Milton’s sustained wind speeds peaked at 180 miles per hour on Monday, before dropping to around 120 mph when the storm made landfall near Siesta Key around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday — less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall in the state as a Category 4 storm.

Milton is the third hurricane to hit Florida this year — which has only happened during five other hurricane seasons since 1871. No season on record has had more than three hurricanes strike Florida.

Extremely warm water in the Gulf of Mexico acted like rocket fuel for the hurricane, a phenomenon that’s been made hundreds of times more likely by climate change, according to a recent analysis by nonprofit research group Climate Central. Satellite data shows that sea surface temperatures in the gulf are around 1 to 3 degrees Celsius warmer at this time compared to the long-term average for 1985 through 2012.

More than 18 inches of rain fell in St. Petersburg, marking a 1-in-1,000 year rainfall event. Flooding is still expected through the weekend. See where the heaviest rain hit the state:

While Milton’s prolific rain is causing major flooding and swelling rivers to historic highs in some places, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell said Florida dodged the worst-case scenario. Relief efforts are ongoing, including a rescue of at least 135 peoplefrom an assisted living facility.

As of Thursday, nearly a dozen river gauges across the state are in major flood stage.. The Hillsborough River had already surged to 15.46 feet, beating the previous record of 15.33 feet set in 1960.

All of these gauges are expected to remain at moderate, or higher, flood stage through the weekend, with some not cresting until at least Sunday.

Many areas in Florida are also recovering from the aftermath of a Milton-spurred torrent “supercharged” tornadoes, according to National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan. At least nine tornadoes plowed through St. Lucie County on Wednesday, including three in less than 25 minutes.

“We’ve never seen anything like that before,” Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Thursday. “I know I’ve never seen anything like that before in almost 20 years that I’ve been here.”

Statewide, there have been more than 30 tornadoes reported since Wednesday with more than 125 warnings issued by the National Weather Services offices in Tampa Bay, Melbourne, and Miami. This is the most tornado warnings ever in a single day in Florida’s history, beating the previous record of 69 set during Hurricane Irma in 2017.

As Floridians survey the damage, more than 3 million people were without power as of Thursday morning. Florida’s power outages were most significant along its west coast, especially in the Hardee and Highlands counties.

As of Friday, more than 2,200 gas stations – around 29% – across Florida didn’t have fuel, according to gas price-tracking platform GasBuddy. In harder hit areas, these numbers were higher: nearly three-quarters of the gas stations in the Tampa and St. Petersburg area had no fuel as of mid-morning Friday and 54% in Sarasota were dry.

Milton emerged toward the end of a busy Atlantic hurricane season. Milton was the fifth hurricane to make landfall in the United States this year, joining Category 1 Beryl, Category 1 Debby, Category 2 Francine and Category 4 Helene. More hurricanes have made landfall in the United States this year than from 2021 to 2023 combined.

—CNN’s Dakin Andone, Allison Chinchar, Mary Gilbert, Alex Leeds Matthews, Artemis Moshtaghian, Ella Nilsen, Rachel Ramirez, Andy Rose, Taylor Ward and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

The hits keep coming.

Less than two weeks after Helene, Milton will strike the peninsular Florida Gulf Coast.

Despite uncertainty about exactly how Milton plays out, there is high confidence that destructive surge is coming to southwest Florida on Wednesday, with the potential for the worst surge in more than 100 years in the Tampa Bay area. Widespread wind and rain impacts are also coming to northeast, central, and south Florida.

As of 11 a.m. Sunday morning, Milton’s sustained winds are up to 65 mph, as determined by a NOAA Hurricane Hunter plane. This flight also found Milton’s minimum pressure to be about 10 millibars lower than expected, an ominous signal that the storm is coming together quickly.

Rapid intensification is likely in the next 48 hours, and as usual, we don’t know exactly how high that strengthening cycle will spin up maximum winds. Embedded in a low-shear, high-moisture environment and crossing record-warm Gulf waters still in the upper 80s, the NHC is predicting Milton to become a major hurricane by late Monday.

Time plus Gulf is, as always, a dangerous combination.

Tracking Hurricane Milton into likely landfall between the Nature Coast and Marco Island

Milton is drifting east today and will continue moving a little south of due east through Tuesday, when it will pass just north of the Yucatan peninsula. That is a very unusual direction of movement for a strong Gulf hurricane, one reason there remain few if any apt historical comparisons to Milton.

Later on Tuesday and into Wednesday as Milton approaches Florida, it will accelerate east-northeast or northeast as it feels combined northward nudges from a U.S. East Coast trough and a ridge of high pressure over the Caribbean.

However, Milton will not hook north toward the Panhandle, as a west-to-east-oriented subtropical jet over the Southeastern U.S. will keep the hurricane hustling eastward midweek, even as it gains latitude crossing the southeastern Gulf.

Therefore, Milton is expected to make landfall somewhere between the Nature Coast and Marco Island, most likely on Wednesday.

Models are nudging a bit back to the south on Sunday after jogging north yesterday, and it is simply too early to pick a landfall point within this range.

The most recent NHC track is basically Sarasota to Melbourne, which really means that if you are in the Tampa Bay metro area, Bradenton, Sarasota, Venice, Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples, or anywhere in west-central and southwest Florida, we do not know whether the center of Milton will pass north, south, or over you.

'Wall of water': Milton may weaken a bit before landfall; it won't diminish the life-threatening surge

Focusing on the exact forecast track is the wrong way to look at a storm like Milton, because impacts are going to be widespread throughout the Florida peninsula no matter what.

At this range, the primary focus for residents of the peninsular Gulf Coast should be on Milton’s surge threat. There is high confidence that Milton will be a powerful major hurricane on Tuesday in the south central Gulf.

As Milton angles northeast towards Florida later on Tuesday into Wednesday, it’s likely going to encounter enough stronger vertical wind shear and dry air to cause its maximum sustained winds to plateau or potentially even decline a bit prior to landfall.

However, these potential fluctuations in maximum sustained winds before landfall do not translate in any way to diminished surge threat. Milton will be a ferocious storm over the southeastern Gulf, building up a life-threatening wall of water over days that will be inbound to the Florida Gulf Coast, no matter what wind-based category Milton is labeled with at landfall.

Official surge forecast ranges from the NHC will be out soon. In the meantime, if you’re in Southwest Florida, you need to know that destructive surge is likely to occur on Wednesday.

There are better and worse scenarios, but a wallop is coming, especially for whoever gets the southeastern eyewall.

Tampa must prepare for a worst-case scenario of 10+ foot storm surge

Still, as we know from very recent experience, a hurricane passing well to Southwest Florida’s north or east results in dangerous surge. If you are in a coastal flood zone, prepare now to leave when your local emergency manager calls for an evacuation.

In the Tampa Bay region and west-central Florida, there is more uncertainty about whether or not life-threatening surge will occur, but the potential of what could happen is historically bad. As in Ian and Irma, if the center of the hurricane passes south and east of Tampa Bay, primarily offshore winds will mean limited or no surge.

However, if Milton were to pass near or north of Tampa Bay, primarily onshore winds could drive surge above Helene’s heights and into the 10’+ realm not seen in the area since 1848 and 1921.

The best thing I can say now is that Tampa Bay residents simply have to prepare for Milton as if the worst case will occur, and hope that it doesn’t. The probability of severe surge is high enough, and the consequences of not evacuating low-lying areas dire enough, that you just can’t afford to roll the dice on getting lucky again.

Again, west-central Florida sadly has very, very recent reference points for the consequences of not heeding local authorities.

If your flood zone is told to evacuate, get inland. Figure out what you’d do if the word comes down today.

Potential flooding rain will soak south and central Florida even before Milton nears

Another major impact of Milton that is not sensitive to exactly how the forecast plays out is the heavy rain threat to the entire Florida peninsula, which starts now and continues through midweek.

I’ve been highlighting excessive rainfall risks to South and Central Florida as likely to begin this weekend no matter what, and right on cue, widespread storms are spreading over the peninsula today.

This rainfall is only indirectly associated with Milton, but precipitation will nevertheless tally anywhere from 2-5”+ south of a line from roughly Cedar Key to Jacksonville before the storm arrives, with the highest risks of early week flash flooding in South Florida.

With dry air potentially punching into Milton’s southern half on Wednesday as it makes landfall, the highest risks of excessive rainfall with the hurricane itself will most likely be in Central or Northeast Florida, even if landfall is farther south.

Once again, recent experience teaches us that we need to take the threat of hurricane-related flooding every bit as seriously as surge and wind, so be monitoring the situation closely in low-lying and freshwater flood-prone areas of the Orlando, Tampa, and even Jacksonville metro areas.

The northwestern cutoff of the heavy rain threat will fall across the Big Bend, and the central and western Panhandle should be mostly dry.

Wind threat is the most uncertain, but even inland should prepare for damaging gusts

Coastal and inland wind impacts are also a potential major issue for Central and South Florida, albeit the one with the lowest forecast confidence at this point.

Due to interaction with a subtropical jet stream as it nears and crosses Florida, Milton’s top winds may be on the downswing just prior to landfall on Wednesday, though likely at the cost of smearing tropical-storm-force and hurricane-force wind gusts over a large area.

As highlighted by the NHC forecast discussion, the complicated jet dynamics in play may well result in a stronger “weak” (in this case, north/west) side of Milton than one might expect, even if the storm were to drop a category or two from its Category 3 or 4 peak intensity.

We really can’t put a fine point on potential wind impacts at specific locations yet, but residents of coastal areas from the Nature Coast south, plus the entire inland Florida peninsula should do what you can now to prepare your property for high winds, particularly in areas already brutalized just two weeks ago by Helene.

Bottom line is nothing good is going on with Milton today, and I continue to hate that this is happening so, so much. We’re facing a compounded threat with few precedents in hurricane history, as only 1926, 1950, 2004, and 2005 saw two Category 3 or higher landfalls in Florida.

Whether or not 2024 joins that list is immaterial to the near-certainty that Helene and Milton are likely to go down as one of the most devastating one-two statewide punches of all time.

We’re all exhausted already. You are, I am. That’s reality, and I know that.

Unfortunately, it’s also reality that we have to react, prepare, and if necessary, evacuate, because the surge, rain, and wind threat from Milton requires our last full measures to protect life and property.

I’ll be keeping you posted with updates through the storm, which too, shall pass. Keep watching the skies.

Dr. Ryan Truchelut is chief meteorologist at WeatherTiger, a Tallahassee company providing forensic meteorology expert witness services, and agricultural and hurricane forecasting subscription services. Visit weathertiger.com for more information. Email Truchelut at ryan@weathertiger.com.

Home » Home » Miss Black Melbourne To Compete in the 2024 Miss Black Florida USA Scholarship Pageant November 9-10

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – The Misss Black Florida USA Scholarship Pageant is excited to announce its return in the fall of 2024 in the vibrant Tampa Bay area on November 9 and 10.

This esteemed pageant celebrates the brilliance, diverse beauty, and limitless potential of Black women, and Dyani Peterson will vy for the crown as she represents her hometown Melbourne, Florida.

Peterson is very excited about competing in the Miss Black Florida USA Scholarship Pageant and said she is competing in this scholarship pageant because she wants to inspire other disabled people to never limit themselves and to follow their dreams.

Peterson’s platform is about elevating and amplifying the voices of disabled individuals.

“I am really excited to be a part of this scholarship pageant and to inspire young people with disabilities to achieve their dreams,” said Peterson.

Open to Black women, the Miss Black Florida USA pageant includes Teen, Miss, and Mrs./Ms. competition divisions, providing opportunities for participants of various ages to showcase their talents and achievements.

This year, the state pageant is under new leadership, with a newly appointed executive board that includes State Director & President Nhari Fitzgerald, Vice President Janey Tate, Secretary Tamilla Mullings, and Treasurer Krisha’ Daniels.

“The Miss Black Florida USA Scholarship Pageant is dedicated to empowering and celebrating the brilliance, diverse beauty, and limitless potential of Black women across the state of Florida,” said Fitzgerald.

Their mission is to provide a transformative platform that amplifies their voices, uplifts their communities, and paves the way for their success. They hold strong to our core values of Inclusivity, Empowerment, Community Engagement, Excellence, and Scholarship.

They envision a world where Black women are empowered, celebrated, and given the platform to excel in every aspect of life. They believe in showcasing the diverse talents, intelligence, and accomplishments of Black women, while challenging societal norms and redefining beauty standards. Through the pageant, they aim to shatter barriers, inspire future generations, and create positive change in the world.

■ Date: November 9 and 10 ■ Location: Pinellas Park, Florida ■ Divisions: Miss, Talented Teen, Mrs./Ms.

The Miss Black Florida USA Scholarship pageant is a preliminary event to the Miss Black USA national competition. Women of a wide range of ages are encouraged to apply and participate in this transformative experience.

For more information, to apply and/or donate, please visit Miss Black Florida USA.

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