Irma continues breaking records
TOO MUCH. Hurricane Irma leaves behind devastation. It has already heavily damaged some Caribbean islands, devastating Barbuda and tearing through Anguilla. Barbuda is “uninhabitable” and in a “total blackout” with almost all of its infrastructure destroyed, according to Michael Joseph, president of the Red Cross in Antigua and Barbuda.
- First storm in recorded history to maintain top winds of 185 mph for 37 hours straight. “[It’s the] longest any cyclone around the globe has maintained that intensity on record. The previous record was [Typhoon] Haiyan in the [Northwest] Pacific at 24 hours,” tweeted Phil Klotzbach, meteorologist for Colorado State University.
- Strongest storm on record to exist in the Atlantic. Hurricane Irma has had a maximum speed of 185 mph, a first for storms in the Atlantic, which is more prone to cyclones due to the warmer waters in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
- Tied with the 1932 Cuba hurricane for the longest time spent as a Category 5 hurricane.
- Lowest minimum pressure of an Atlantic hurricane on record. Scientists have found that the lower the pressure a storm has, the stronger the storm tends to be. Irma had a pressure of 915 millibars.
- First time in recorded history that two hurricanes with winds of at least 150 mph were in the Atlantic at the same time. On Sat., Sept. 9, Hurricanes Irma and Jose churned through the Atlantic at the same time.
- First time on record that two Category 4 storms made landfall in the U.S. in the same year.
- Most hurricane days. As of early Sunday, Irma has clocked in 10.75 hurricane days, the most days of a tropical storm since Ike in 2008, which was ten hurricane days long.
- Most Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) generated in a 24-hour period. ACE is another way scientists measure a hurricane season using the combined wind energy a storm produces during a set time period. Irma broke the old record set by Hurricane Allen in 1980.
