Wilma continues to confound forecasters, and has intensified once more into a Category 3 hurricane with 125 mph winds, despite wind shear levels that would normally barely support a hurricane. In fact, Wilma is close to Category 4 status--the 5 pm hurricane hunter flight found winds at 10,000 feet of 157 mph, which normally translates to a surface wind of 140 mph--Category 4 winds. Wilma is over the Gulf Stream, which has warm water temperatures of 28 C capable of supporting a major hurricane. Wilma is racing northeast at 40 mph away from Florida, but is still bringing tropical storm force wind gusts to both the east and west coasts of Florida. A wind gust of 39 mph was measured at Naples at 4 pm EDT today.
Wind reports
Here are the maximum sustained winds and gusts (in mph) measured during Wilma:
Miami: 67 gust 91 8:30am
West Palm Beach: 82 gust 100 9:10 am
Fort Lauderdale: 69 gust 96 10:53 am
Pompano Beach: 83 gust 120 mph 8:48 am
Alligator Alley, west of US 27: 85 gust 104 8:19 am
Grand Bahama: 95 gust 111 12:00 pm
Naples: 80 gust 97 8:30 am
Key Largo: 101 gust 123 8:00 am
And some peak wind gusts:
Naples EMO: 121 mph
Ochopee, Collier County: 105 mph
Everglades City: 97 mph
Opa Locka: 105 mph
Everglades National Park: 112 mph
Doral: 111 mph
National Hurricane Center: 104 mph
Boynton Beach: 103 mph
North Carolina
Wilma will race northeastward off the coast, but spare North Carolina her fury. Only 20 - 30 mph winds are expected on the Outer Banks tonight, and the moderate rain now falling across eatern North Carolina will end by 4 am Tuesday.
New England
On Tuesday, Wilma will dramatically affect New England's weather. A separate powerful Nor'easter storm will develop next to the coast of New England on Tuesday, and moisture feeding back from Wilma into the Nor'easter will drench much of Rhode Island, southeast Massachusetts, and surrounding areas with 2 - 4 inches of rain. Winds from the combined Nor'easter/Wilma storm will reach sustained levels of 40 - 50 mph over the waters near Cape Cod, and bring wind gusts of 50 mph to New York City, Providence, and Boston. A storm surge of 1 - 3 feet with 20 foot waves is expected to cause moderate flooding along the coast of southeast Massachusetts. As Wilma continues northeast on Wednesday, New Brunswick and Newfoundland will experience tropical storm force winds, heavy rain, and coastal flooding.
Wilma's impact
Downtown Clewiston, next to Lake Okeechobee, suffered extensive damage. Up to 35% of the land area of Key West suffered inundation from Wilma's storm surge. The damage to the Keys and the rest of Florida is still unclear, but preliminary estimates of the total insured plus uninsured damage are $4 - $18 billion. It is also too early to gauge Wilma's impact on Mexico. Between 30-40% of the population in Cancun has suffered some damage to their housing. Reports are not in yet from the hardest hit areas, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen, which is a bad sign. Wilma caused heavy damage in Havana, where huge waves pushed flood waters up to four blocks inland, and flooded the city up to three feet deep. Damage to Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras, and Belize was also substantial. Including the damage done to Mexico and the rest of the Caribbean, Wilma will probably be the second most costly hurricane of all time, next to Katrina.
Alpha
Alpha is no more, destroyed by big sister Wilma's strong winds. In Haiti, eight are dead from flooding and mudslides triggered by Alpha's 4 - 8 inches of rain. At least 400 homes were destroyed, and twenty-three people have been reported missing, including 19 who were swept away by floodwaters in the town of Leogane, west of the capital.
Three people are missing from floods in the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Nor'easter season
New England residents, take note: it's now Nor'easter season! A second Nor'easter is expected to significantly impact the area on Sunday, bringing high winds, heavy rain, and the threat of coastal flooding from North Carolina to Maine. I'll be back Tuesday morning to discuss the current Nor'easter and Wilma, plus the outlook for Sunday's Nor'easter. Hurricane season is close to ending; it's time to start thinking about winter storms.
some neighbors, down the street...riding bikes in the street!
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Now the SEC debate....
UGA is the best team in the east and Bama is the best team in the west.
UT has some of the best talent and the worst coaches IMO in the SEC...I have been saying it since 99 but people are just now taking notice.
No matter how cool it will be to see PSII, I still worry for people in the way :( hope you make it out fine, and everyone else in the path of this freak storm.
Given the high level of unpredictability in this storm's reactions, I wouldn't be surprised if Wilma was still a hurricane on approach to Canada. Even if she does shift to extratropical, she will be a doozy . . .
>would be if UK got a Category 1...that'd make my day. >Ehehe....
Great, you come to fantastic blog to see how people fared and all you get is bigotry.
2jamie (UK)
HURRICANE WILMA ADVISORY NUMBER 41
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
5 AM EDT TUE OCT 25 2005
...WILMA BEGINNING TO WEAKEN AS IT RACES NORTHEASTWARD...
AT 5 AM EDT...0900Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE WILMA WAS LOCATED NEAR
LATITUDE 34.8 NORTH... LONGITUDE 70.0 WEST OR ABOUT 310 MILES...
505 KM... EAST OF CAPE HATTERAS NORTH CAROLINA.
WILMA IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST NEAR 53 MPH ...85 KM/HR...AND
THIS MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS...KEEPING
WILMA WELL OFFSHORE OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 115 MPH...185 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. ADDITIONAL WEAKENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 24
HOURS...AND WILMA IS EXPECTED TO LOSE TROPICAL CHARACTERISTICS
DURING THE NEXT DAY OR SO.
HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 105 MILES...165 KM...
FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP
TO 430 MILES...695 KM.
ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 965 MB...28.50 INCHES.
ALTHOUGH WILMA WILL NOT BE DIRECTLY AFFECTING THE U.S. EAST
COAST...HIGH SURF IS PRESENTLY OCCURRING ALONG THE MID-ATLANTIC
STATES. PLEASE CONSULT PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER
OFFICE.
REPEATING THE 5 AM EDT POSITION...34.8 N... 70.0 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD...NORTHEAST NEAR 53 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED
WINDS...115 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE... 965 MB.
THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL
HURRICANE CENTER AT 11 AM EDT.
Just noticed that the GFS, UKMET and NOGAPS have "something" forming in the SW Cairb. in three days. Anyone else see this?
B
How are things in your part of the Universe Today?
April 14th - 2006
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