Hurricane Wilma Sets Records
At 1AM EDT, The National Hurricane Center issued a special advisory:
“THIS SPECIAL ADVISORY IS TO UPDATE THE INITIAL AND THE FORECAST INTENSITY OF WILMA. AN AIR FORCE PLANE JUST MEASURED 162 KNOTS AT 850 MB AND A MINIMUM PRESSURE OF 901 MB IN A PINHOLE EYE. WILMA IS NOW A VERY STRONG CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE AND COULD BECOME A CATEGORY FIVE TODAY. NO CHANGE IN TRACK IS NECESSARY.”
At 2:30AM EDT, an update was issued, which is unusual:
“DATA FROM A RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT HURRICANE WILMA HAS BECOME AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE. THE RECONNAISSANCE PLANE MEASURED 175 MPH WINDS AND ESTIMATED A MINIMUM PRESSURE OF 892 MB. THIS IS THE LOWEST PRESSURE OBSERVED IN 2005 AND IS EQUIVALENT TO THE MINIMUM PRESSURE OF THE 1935 LABOR DAY HURRICANE IN THE FLORIDA KEYS.”
For reference’s sake, that puts Wilma in a two-way tie for the second-most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, behind Hurricane Gilbert, which registered a minimum pressure of 888 mb. Typhoon Tip beat this with a minimum pressure of 870mb, so Wilma has a long way to go if she wants to set a world cyclone record, but she has a chance– the forecasting models suggest that further strengthening is highly possible.
Three of the six most powerful hurricanes ever recorded have occurred in the past three months. That’s not normal, is it?
UPDATE: Well, she did it. She’s the most powerful hurricane ever recorded, with a minimum pressure of 882 mb. It’s unlikely that she’ll strengthen much more, and will probably be “only” on the border between a Category 3 and Category 4 when she hits Florida.