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Wilma now most intense Atlantic storm ever
Updated: 2005-10-19 21:32
Typically, the lower the pressure, the faster the air speeds. But because the
pressure around each storm is different, lower pressure doesn't always
correspond to a specific wind speed.
Forecasters said Wilma was more powerful than the devastating September 1935
hurricane that hit the Florida Keys, 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.
At 8 a.m., the hurricane was centered about 340 miles southeast of Cozumel,
Mexico. Maximum sustained wind remained at 175 mph, forecasters said. It was
moving west-northwest at nearly 8 mph and was expected to turn northwest.
The storm may dump up to 25 inches of rain in mountainous areas of Cuba
through Friday, and as much as 15 inches in the Caymans and Jamaica through
Thursday. Up to 12 inches was possible from Honduras through the Yucatan
peninsula, the U.S. weather service said.
Jamaica, Cuba, Nicaragua and Honduras were getting heavy
rain from the storm, though it wasn't likely to make landfall in any of those
countries. Forecasts showed it would likely turn toward the narrow Yucatan
Channel between Cuba and Mexico's Cancun region — then move into the storm-weary
gulf.
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