How Hurricane Irma became a monstrous, record-shattering storm, and stayed that way
Hurricane Irma is rewriting meteorological history as it tears across the Caribbean, swallowing islands in the process, destined for a not-so-welcome rendezvous with the Southeast coast of the U.S.
The storm is tied for the 2nd-most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic, and has kept up an astonishing intensity — featuring maximum sustained winds of 185 miles per hour — for more than 24 hours straight.
Until Irma, only Hurricane Allen in 1980 stayed at that intensity for nearly as long — 18 hours, according to hurricane researcher Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State UniversityNo eastern Pacific storm has accomplished this feat either. Read more...
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