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Puck
The Texan
Joined: 05 Jan 2004
Posts: 5596
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 Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:42 am Wilma Strengthens to Category 4 Hurricane |
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| Quote: |
Hurricane Wilma a Category 5 monster
'Extremely dangerous' storm has top sustained winds of 175 mph
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Hurricane Wilma has strengthened into an "extremely dangerous" Category 5 hurricane, with sustained maximum winds of 175 mph, the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday.
The hurricane's minimum pressure is 892 millibars -- the lowest pressure observed in 2005.
Forecasters warn that the storm could possibly slam into southwestern Florida by this weekend.
At 2:30 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center reported an Air Force plane had found 175 mph winds with higher gusts in Wilma.
Wilma "has become an extremely dangerous Category Five hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale," the center said in an advisory.
The storm's minimum pressure of 892 millibars "is equivalent to the minimum pressure of the 1935 Labor Day hurricane in the Florida Keys," the advisory added.
The storm has already left seven to 10 people dead in Haitian mudslides caused by heavy rains, government officials told Reuters news agency.
The latest in a slew of devastating storms to sock the Gulf region, Wilma became a hurricane Tuesday -- tying the record for both most hurricanes in a season with 12 and most named storms at 21.
Just nine hours after becoming a hurricane, Wilma's wind speeds had jumped from 75 mph to 100 mph. Then, within two hours, the winds intensified from 110 to 150 mph. A short time later, its winds had increased to 175 mph.
At 2 a.m. EDT, the center of the storm was located 170 miles south-southwest of Grand Cayman Island and about 400 miles southeast of Cozumel, Mexico. It was moving west-northwest at nearly 8 mph and is expected to turn to the northwest over the next 24 hours, the hurricane center said.
A Category 5 hurricane can cause a storm surge of more than 18 feet above normal.
Projections for Wilma's path suggest the storm may skirt the western tip of Cuba on Friday, possibly as a Category 4 storm with winds of greater than 130 mph, before curving eastward and barreling toward the southwestern Florida coast.
"All interests in the Florida Keys and the Florida peninsula should closely monitor the progress of Wilma," the NHC said.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward about 15 miles from the eye, and tropical-storm-force winds stretch up to 155 miles from the center.
Cuba has issued a hurricane watch for the provinces of Matanzas westward through Pinar del Rio and for the Isle of Youth, according to the hurricane center. Late Tuesday, Mexico extended a hurricane watch for the Yucatan Peninsula. The watch area now stretches from Punta Gruesa to Cabo Catoche. A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions, including winds of at least 74 mph, are possible within 36 hours.
A 150-mile stretch of the Honduran coast is under a tropical storm warning, and the Cayman Islands are under tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch.
The hurricane center said Cuba could get anywhere from 10 to 15 inches of rain in Wilma's wake, with some areas getting socked with as much as 25 inches. Additional rainfall accumulations of of up to 10 inches, with up to 15 inches possible in some areas, was possible across the Cayman Islands and Jamaica through Thursday. Across the Yucatan Peninsula, rainfall of up to 6 inches was possible, with up to 12 inches in some areas.
Wilma is the 21st named storm of the 2005 hurricane season and the 12th to reach hurricane status. Of those, five have developed into major hurricanes.
The only other time 12 hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic was in 1969, according to the hurricane center. The most major hurricanes in a year was eight, in 1950.
Wilma is also the final name on the 2005 list. The hurricane center does not use certain letters of the alphabet, including X, Y and Z, because there are so few names begin with those letters.
If any tropical storms and subsequent hurricanes form before the season ends on Nov. 30, they will be classified using the Greek alphabet, beginning with Alpha.
If that happens, it would be the first time since the naming of storms began in 1953, according to the hurricane center.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/10/19/wilma/index.html
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Last edited by Puck on Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:26 pm; edited 2 times in total
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jonathan95
Delta Prime
Joined: 29 Oct 2002
Posts: 1544
Location: UK Newcastle
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| Wed Oct 19, 2005 2:56 am |
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hopefuly it will not hit land,
this is another defistating one out there, I am greatly concerned by the amount of bad weather every where is having, I mean here in the UK we have had two tornado's thought small by US standards but we never have had them this close normaly lucky if you get to hear about one every few years,
starts thinking umm maybe the Day After Tomorrow might be a little more real than we think.
I hope that everything will be ok with this storm, this is the last thing the US needs really, when already trying to sort its self after all of the other ones.
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Dirt
Exercise Boy
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 2086
Location: a tree
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| Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:12 am |
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These things are so overrated after the katrina thing 
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Leo Wyatt
Sweetest Angel
Joined: 25 Feb 2004
Posts: 19045
Location: Investigating A Crime Scene. What did Quark do this time?
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| Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:11 am |
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I hope it don't hit land. Each time a Hurricane hits Florida, Georgia gets bunch of rain. Well where I am anyways. I live closer to Florida line only an hour and half away.
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Cathexis
The Angel of Avalon
Joined: 26 Dec 2001
Posts: 5901
Location: ~~ Where Dreams Have No End�
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| Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:30 pm |
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I'm just glad I'm not still over there...was vacationing there over the summer...happy to be back on the west coast as opposed to the east.
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ILoveHarry
Admiral
Joined: 14 Jan 2004
Posts: 7909
Location: Houston
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| Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:40 pm |
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| Dirt wrote: | | These things are so overrated after the katrina thing |
Um... OK... tell that to the people who lost their lives, homes, and loved ones.
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Puck
The Texan
Joined: 05 Jan 2004
Posts: 5596
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| Thu Oct 20, 2005 8:48 pm |
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| Dirt wrote: | | These things are so overrated after the katrina thing |
If you don't have anything valuable to post, then don't post.
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