This hurricane has become Category 5, which is a size reached by few storms, and is of a power that generally results in catastrophe to all in its path. I was doing a little research on this, and it turns out that there have been only four other Category 5 hurricanes in the last 100 years that have struck the American mainland, two in Texas, both in the Houston area, and two in Florida, one in the 30's that put it back in the stone age for a while. Looks like it is time for all of us to keep an eye on this very bad boy.

Yeah and Jamaica is just about to get levelled

They are going to get flattened. This thing has not passed over any land yet, so the thing will be at full power when it hits Jamaica.

Wasn't Camile a Cat 5?

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

This hurricanes projected path has really moved around over the last 24 hours.

This is the 5pm update from NOAA.

I was at Hope Depot today and the lines were already 60 deep.

*****!

We'll see what transpires tomorrow.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Kirk, Here is the list of all cat 5 'canes. According to NOAA

List of Category 5 Atlantic Hurricanes
(1886 - Present)

Number Storm Name Maximum Wind Date Attained
(UTC) Landfall as
Category 5
1 Not Named 140 kt
160 mph Sep 13, 1928 Puerto Rico
2 Not Named 140 kt
160 mph Sep 5, 1932 Bahamas
3 Not Named 140 kt
160 mph Sep 3, 1935 US/FL Keys
4 Not Named 140 kt
160 mph Sep 19, 1938 ---
5 Not Named 140 kt
160 mph Sep 16, 1947 Bahamas
6 Dog 160 kt
185 mph Sep 6, 1950 ---
7 Easy 140 kt
160 mph Sep 7, 1951 ---
8 Janet 150 kt
175 mph Sep 28, 1955 Mexico
9 Cleo 140 kt
160 mph Aug 16, 1958 ---
10 Donna 140 kt
160 mph Sep 4, 1960 ---
11 Ethel 140 kt
160 mph Sep 15, 1960 ---
12 Carla 150 kt
175 mph Sep 11, 1961 ---
13 Hattie 140 kt
160 mph Oct 30, 1961 ---
14 Beulah 140 kt
160 mph Sep 20, 1967 ---
15 Camille 165 kt
190 mph Aug 17, 1969 US/MS
16 Edith 140 kt
160 mph Sep 9, 1971 Nicaragua
17 Anita 150 kt
175 mph Sep 2, 1977 ---
18 David 150 kt
175 mph Aug 30, 1979 ---
19 Allen 165 kt
190 mph Aug 7, 1980 ---
20 Gilbert 160 kt
185 mph Sep 14, 1988 Mexico
21 Hugo 140 kt
160 mph Sep 15, 1989 ---
22 Mitch 155 kt
180 mph Oct 26, 1998 ---

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Speaking of Hurricanes, we have the 'Canes vs. FSU tomorrow night at the Orange Bowl baby..........

Will be tailgating early.

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I would think that would be a Category 6. That was the biggest of all time, in a class all by itself. This guy might get to that.

The thing I looked at was a graphic, In which they identified the strike point on the US by different colored dots. It showed only 4 Cat 5s to hit the US, two striking Texas and two striking Florida.

I am surprised the hurricane of 1900 wasn't on the list. Pretty sure that was, or should have been a Cat 5. That is the one that wiped Galveston off the map...storm track carried it all the way north to the Ohio Valley or beyond (I think). Killed something on the order of 8,000 folks.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

This is the one that wiped out Florida in the Thirties:

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wh1935.htm

That was pretty eerie, the amount of dead that were burned 'cause they had no place to put them.

When driving to Key West, around mile marker 30 or so, you can see and old rail road bridge, that is missing parts to it, I wonder if that was hit by that storm.

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If you really want to see something, go to Galveston Island. There are lots of buildings perserved from the 1900 hurricane, and you can see the high water mark stains on the walls. At the Tremont House restuarant on Market St, it is kind of eerie to sit there and look up to see that you would be about ten feet under water if you had been in that spot that day. They were burning and burying bodies around here for months after that.

Yeah, I read about that one. I believe 6000 KNOWN dead. I am sure there were a lot of migrant workers that were unaccounted for.

Fortunately, we have the technology to give us advance warning now.

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It's now a category 4.

If Ivan does hit, it will be the first time in 40 years that 3 hurricanes have made landfall within a 4 week period.

Can't wait to see what the next 24-48 hours bring.

NAt'l weather center claims that category 4 and 5 'canes have a certain degree of difficulty remaining so.

There will be some slowing down when it hits Jamaica and Cuba, which seems inevitable.

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