Hurricane Irma has set a record. It has had sustained winds of over 180 miles per hour for the longest period of time of any Atlantic hurricane in recorded history. It has left a horrible path of destruction in its wake through the Caribbean islands. As I write this blog post, it is passing north of Puerto Rico which seems to have escaped the worst of it with the eye off to the north.
The small island of Barbudo has been totally destroyed. From what we can determine, almost every house there has been either totally destroyed or very heavily damaged. The island has only around 1500 people. A cell tower reinforced by steel was snapped in half. The islands of St. Martin and St. Thomas have sustained heavy damage. St. Martin is said to be 95 percent destroyed by observers. Communication is down and full information is not available at the time of this post. The islands of Hispanola and Cuba are next on the agenda. Photos of Hurricane Irma damage
At this time, the path of Hurricane Irma has slightly changed. It is now projected by most forecasters to go up the Atlantic coast of Florida and hug the coast of the Carolinas. The cone of hurricane force and tropical storm force winds extend all the way west to Apalachicola, Florida on the panhandle. The storm is 350 miles wide in one direction and 500 miles wide in the other direction. A few forecasters still think it will veer off into the Gulf of Mexico and go north along the west coast of Florida.
At some point, most forecasters expect Irma to take the turn north. At the time of this post, they thought they were seeing some changes in the eye wall called an eye wall replacement cycle. They think it might be indicative of some weakening, but we will not know that until morning.
Writer’s Note: After viewing some photos of damage to the Caribbean islands, I am shaken. I can’t add personal thoughts to this post, but I encourage you to look at the photos especially if you are in the projected path of the storm. Please evacuate if you are.
The Write Scribe 