20 years ago, Hurricane Wilma set the bar for maximum intensity
The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a record-shattering season, and among the frenzy of storms, Hurricane Wilma topped them all.
Photo of Hurricane Wilma taken from NASA's International Space Station.
Three Category 5 storms formed in the Gulf during the blockbuster 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, each more intense than the last, and each about a month apart. Wilma was the last of the three, and it turned out to be the strongest storm ever measured in the Atlantic basin.
The country was still grappling with the horrifying aftermath of Katrina’s destruction along the Gulf Coast when Rita slammed into southwestern Louisiana as a Category 3 storm on Sept. 24, bringing even more destruction and turmoil to the beleaguered Gulf region.
As it turned out, the most intense storm was yet to come.
Hurricane Wilma tapped into the warm Caribbean waters, and paired with low wind shear in the atmosphere, and the storm underwent a record-setting and staggering period of intensification. The storm’s central pressure bottomed out at 26.04 inches of mercury (882 mb), a record that still stands for Atlantic hurricanes 20 years later.
AccuWeather's Lead Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski had forecast his fair share of powerful hurricanes during his 44 years with the company.
“I remember the data coming in [from the Hurricane Hunter aircraft]. I could not believe the drop in pressure,” Kottlowski recalled. “Each time the plane went over the storm, the pressure just kept dropping, and we were just wondering, ‘When is it ever gonna stop dropping?’ It was wild, you know? That’s what I remember the most from Wilma,” he said.
Wilma intensified from a 74-mph Category 1 hurricane to a 185-mph Category 5 hurricane in just 24 hours time from the morning of Oct. 18 to the morning of Oct. 19, Colorado State University Meteorologist Phil Klotzbach told AccuWeather.
“That's a phenomenal intensification rate,” Klotzbach said.
Photo Gallery: Hurricane Wilma
Wilma would smash into the Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 4 hurricane, devastating the far northern part of the region and wreaking havoc on the country’s tourism industry. During its time over Mexico, the hurricane unleashed an astonishing 24-hour rainfall total of 64.03 inches on the island of Islas Mujeres. The amount set the records for daily rainfall in both Mexico and the Western Hemisphere.
The storm then spun back out into the Gulf and charted a course for the U.S., slightly weaker, but still extremely dangerous. Wilma made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane near Cape Romano, Florida, on Oct. 24, 2005, then tore through the state "backwards" — from west to east — marking an unusual track.
Hurricane Wilma approaches Florida on radar (National Weather Service)
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg traveled to Fort Myers, Florida, to cover Wilma, which would end up being the first and only hurricane he would ever cover from the field during his on-camera career. "There was a point at which we felt it was unsafe to report further from outside," Lundberg said.
The storm's death toll for its entire track would rise to 52 by the time it left the United States, where it killed 30 people.
Incredibly, six more Greek-named tropical storms would form after Wilma in the 2005 season, but none impacted the U.S.
Report a Typo
