Wilma stronger than first thought
Hurricane Wilma was even stronger than originally estimated when it slammed into the Mexican Caribbean, the National Hurricane Center said in its final report (pdf) on the storm today.
Wilma was for a time the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, with top sustained winds near 185 mph and the lowest central pressure ever noted at 882 millibars (Oct. 19th), the report said. Forecasters had already confirmed that pressure, but the report increased the winds by 10 mph.
Wilma made its first landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on October 21st on the island of Cozumel with sustained winds of about 150 mph. At the time, Wilma was estimated to packed 140-mph winds.
Last year’s Atlantic hurricane season was the busiest in 154 years of record keeping and even persisted into 2006.
The 2006 hurricane season starts on June 1st.
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