Hurricane Wilma Becomes Strongest On Record In Atlantic
October 19, 2005
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. -- Wilma intensified quickly Wednesday into the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record in terms of barometric pressure, as Floridians waited for the monster Category 5 storm to make an expected turn toward the peninsula by the weekend.
Wilma's top sustained winds reached 175 mph early Wednesday in the most rapid strengthening ever recorded in a hurricane, said Hugh Cobb, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. At the same time Tuesday, Wilma was only a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph.
Its confirmed pressure readings Wednesday morning dropped to 882 millibars -- the lowest minimum pressure ever measured in a hurricane in the Atlantic basin, according to the hurricane center.
Forecasters said Wilma was stronger than the devastating Labor Day hurricane that hit the Florida Keys in 1935, the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall on record. But 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, Cobb said.
October 19, 2005
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. -- Wilma intensified quickly Wednesday into the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record in terms of barometric pressure, as Floridians waited for the monster Category 5 storm to make an expected turn toward the peninsula by the weekend.
Wilma's top sustained winds reached 175 mph early Wednesday in the most rapid strengthening ever recorded in a hurricane, said Hugh Cobb, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. At the same time Tuesday, Wilma was only a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph.
Its confirmed pressure readings Wednesday morning dropped to 882 millibars -- the lowest minimum pressure ever measured in a hurricane in the Atlantic basin, according to the hurricane center.
Forecasters said Wilma was stronger than the devastating Labor Day hurricane that hit the Florida Keys in 1935, the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall on record. But 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, Cobb said.
