Hurricane Wilma is surprising meteorologists as she grows, she to a 175 mile per hour storm in 12 hours from a category one Hurricane. It was not more than a month ago that we were hit by Super Hurricane Record Breaking Rita which was also a CAT Five Super Hurricane with 175 mph winds. Some think it Rita might have actually been 184 mph winds but no one was around to measure her strength at her strongest point, as she was busy teaching buoys, that would normally measure Gulf Winds, to fly. One hundred and seventy-five mile per hour winds in the cold of night, wow and this of course makes Hurricane Wilma a Category V, her eyewall only two-miles across and tightly wound. Super Hurricane Wilma; what else can you call her as the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale does not even go past Category Five. She ought to be a Category Six Hurricane. As a Category 4 Hurricane, Super Hurricane Wilma was already at a low-pressure area of 901 mb with 155 mile per hour winds, now she is a Cat V Ominous Mega Super Hurricane at only 892 mb, which makes it the second strongest Hurricane on record. The lowest and strongest Hurricane ever on record was 888 in the 1988 Tropical Hurricane Season, that was mid-season Hurricane Gilbert. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1988gilbert.html Hurricane Wilma at 4 AM on October 19, 2005 tied the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, which also made a turn and hit Florida Keys with a 892 mb low pressure. Needless to say, if one were in the path of such a Super Hurricane like Hurricane Wilma, the best advice would be to run, not ride it out. Category Five Hurricanes move lots of water and the storm surge alone will be 25 plus feet and if you live in an inlet harbor or along a river inlet where the water is forced into a smaller area? Well then run further. Think on this. |
