Hurricane Wilma

[wittynickname]

Ridiculous hurricane season this year in the Atlantic. Wilma is now the 21st named storm of the season--tying 2005 with 1933 as the busiest on record. This storm has dropped pressure like crazy in the last 24 hours. Most notably, since 8 pm EST, it has dropped from 970mb to 892 mb, tying it for second on the list of most powerful storms ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Here's the most recent update from the National Hurricane Center:

000
WTNT64 KNHC 190629
TCUAT4
HURRICANE WILMA TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
230 AM EDT WED OCT 19 2005
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.

I'm a huge weather geek, so this hurricane season has just been completely fascinating for me.

Edited for clarity.

[Patek23]

Is there any possibility of this hitting land?

[wittynickname]

National Hurricane Center has it forecasted to hit Florida...

[KevanGuy]

892!?!? Good grief. Checking out this storm was on my list to do tonight. I guess I'm gonna be up for a while still.

EDIT:

230 AM EDT WED OCT 19 2005
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.

[La Flames Fan]

Wow...Feels like only yesterday we were doing this for Katrina, now this...Jesus.

[wittynickname]

Unofficially, there's now a lowest minimum pressure of 887mb. Making it the most powerful hurricane on record, as Hurricane Gilbert was 888mb.

The weather geek in me is LOVING this, though I'm hoping it loses a ton of intensity before hitting land. Hard to imagine the effect it would have on land right now.

[KevanGuy]

For real up to date info check out Steve Gregory's blog at wunderground...

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/SteveGreg...9&tstamp=200510


It's pretty scary to see an expert say stuff like "892mb and 168Kts, a 2NM eye ....that is beyond comprehension and no doubt has never been observed before."

[La Flames Fan]

"...AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE PLANE REPORTED 884 MB...THE LOWEST
MINIMUM PRESSURE EVER MEASURED IN A HURRICANE IN THE ATLANTIC
BASIN...THIS VALUE SHOULD BE USED WITH CAUTION UNTIL CALIBRATED..."

I too am loving this, I don't know what it is with weather, but it does fascinate me...But I hope this isn't dangerous to anyone...Though I fear it is....

[wittynickname]

Oh man, 884?? That is ridiculous. And this thing has a TINY eye, it was 2 miles across as of 2:30. This is insane. I'm glad I'm not the only one loving this!

[KevanGuy]

Holy cow. Only 14 more MB to tie the record for strongest hurricane/typhoon ever. And that was a big one. Meet Typhoon Tip.

[KevanGuy]

Someone on another board made this comment. Not sure if its true or not but even if its close it is pretty unreal...

This is a more concentrated, violent mass of power than even Andrew. It won't hit FL with this kind of power, but right now, the winds are just about hard enough to rip heads clean off, and they're rotating around an area the size of a 10,000-person town. Every 20 seconds.

[La Flames Fan]

Typhoon Tip - Ranks number 1 as the most intense tropical cyclone on record. Tip was located in the northwest Pacific Ocean, which on October 12, 1979 had winds gusting as high as 190 mph (306 km/h) and a central pressure of 870 mb (25.69"Hg). The size of the circulation around Typhoon Tip was approximately 1350 miles (2174 km) across. If placed over the continental U.S., it would almost cover the western half of the country.

HOLY COW IS RIGHT...

[wittynickname]

So you've got Typhoon Tip, which was a HUGE system...and then you have Wilma, and its a relatively small system. Hurricane force winds only extend 15 miles from the center of the storm. And yet their minimum pressures are comparable.

The power of nature is mind boggling.

[La Flames Fan]

NOAA Images, current and dating way back...Interesting

[Bill Bumface]

So for someone going to the Mayan Riviera in May, does this mean I get to see a whole bunch of destroyed reefs and stay in a hotel under construction?

[KevanGuy]

THE 11 AM EDT POSITION...17.4 N... 83.2 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD...WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 7 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED
WINDS...175 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE... 882 MB.

Pressure still dropping, though only slightly over the past 5 hours.

[Reaper]

Man, what's next for the United States? Raining frogs? Locusts?

[nfotiu]

My pregnant wife is cutting it close. She is in Florida until Friday evening. Hopefully they send them home earlier.

[Cowperson]

Hmmm . . . . I'm going to be in Atlanta late next week, right in the rain belt. . . . . hopefully this is in New England by then.

That's my Seinfeldian self-centered moment as the strongest hurricane ever recorded goes for Florida.

Cowperson

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally posted by Reaper@Oct 19 2005, 09:27 AM
Man, what's next for the United States? Raining frogs? Locusts?

I don't know, but the Onion has a thought.

Poor New Orleans