Waffle House shuttering Tampa locations in rare bellwether indicating Hurricane Milton will be severe, dangerous storm

The Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale has nothing on the Waffle House Index.Beloved Southern breakfast mainstay Waffle House announced it will close dozens of Florida locations in Hurricane Milton’s path in an unorthodox — yet surprisingly accurate — indicator of the storm’s expected severity known as the “Waffle House Index.”“Our #whindex status maps reflect our closures as of 2pm today in advance of #HurricaneMilton.More updates to come.

Please stay safe,” the chain wrote in a post on its official X account alongside maps showing closed locations in Tampa and Fort Myers represented by red dots.The Category 4 hurricane is expected to make landfall on the west coast of Florida after dark on Wednesday, bringing potentially catastrophic sustained winds of 145 mph.Millions have fled the state in one of the largest evacuations in the state’s history.The chain’s 1,600 locations dot much of the American South, from the mid-Atlantic to Florida and covering large swaths of the Gulf Coast area.

But the restaurant has a reputation for staying open — albeit sometimes with limited menu offerings — no matter what Mother Nature cooks up.Even in rare instances where its restaurants do close, such as during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the eateries endeavor to quickly re-open to give hungry patrons in storm zones a taste of normalcy — with a side of waffles and grits.The restaurants are so reliably open that the iconic illuminated black-and-yellow signs signal to passing motorists that a forecasted storm may not be as worrisome as predicted.When the signs are switched off, however, it indicates a truly severe weather event is on the horizon.“If you get there and the Waffle House is closed?” FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate is quoted in a blog post by the company.“That’s really bad.  That’s where you go to work.”Fugate is credited with conceiving the Waffle House Index in 2004 while seeking out a hot meal after surveying damage left by Hurricane Charl...