Hurricane Wilma most intense Atlantic storm on record
This satellite image, taken at 8:15 a.m. ET Wednesday,
shows Hurricane Wilma between Cuba and Mexico's
Yucatan Peninsula.
Image source: MSNBC / NOAA
shows Hurricane Wilma between Cuba and Mexico's
Yucatan Peninsula.
Image source: MSNBC / NOAA
An AP newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that:
Gathering strength at a record pace and on course for southern Florida, Hurricane Wilma grew into the most intense Atlantic storm ever recorded Wednesday — a Category 5 monster with 175 mph winds.
The National Hurricane Center — which bases a storm's strength on barometric pressure, not wind speed — said Wilma's pressure had dropped to 882 millibars, the lowest minimum pressure ever measured in a hurricane in the Atlantic basin. Pressure drops as a hurricane gains strength, and the previous record was set by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 at 888 millibars.
Center meteorologist Hugh Cobb said Wilma also set a record for the most rapid strengthening ever recorded in a hurricane.
But Cobb added that Wilma wasn’t expected to keep its record strength for long, as higher disruptive atmospheric winds in the Gulf of Mexico around the hurricane should weaken it before landfall.
Still, forecasters warned the storm was “extremely dangerous.”
posted by Fergie @ 10/19/2005 06:43:00 AM
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