#Wilma hurricane track professional

Much of southern Florida experienced hurricane-force winds, with the strongest surface-height sustained wind speed being a 15-minute average of 92 mph (148 km/h), equivalent to a 1-minute speed of 104 mph (167 km/h), observed in Lake Okeechobee. Over 33,000 people sought refuge at a shelter in Florida. No mandatory evacuations would be ordered for coastal areas of the Miami metropolitan area, though residents residing in low-lying areas and mobile homes were told to evacuate. However, fewer than 10% of Florida Keys residents complied with evacuation orders. Officials ordered evacuations for southwestern Florida and the Florida Keys. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued many tropical cyclone warnings and watches for the state beginning on October 22.

#Wilma hurricane track professional

The storm's threat resulted in the postponement of several professional and collegiate sports games. Schools and government offices began closing on the following day. Wilma continued rapidly northeastward into the Atlantic Ocean and became extratropical on October 26.Īs the system drew closer, Florida governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency on October 19. Thereafter, a strong cold front swept the storm northeastward into Florida on October 24, with landfall occurring near Cape Romano as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 120 mph (190 km/h). Wilma then slowly weakened while trekking to the northwest and fell to Category 4 intensity by the time it struck the Yucatán Peninsula on October 22. After reaching tropical storm intensity on October 17 and then hurricane status on October 18, the system explosively deepened, peaking as the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma developed in the Caribbean Sea just southwest of Jamaica on October 15 from a large area of disturbed weather. The effects of Hurricane Wilma in Florida resulted in the storm becoming one of the costliest tropical cyclones in Florida history. Part of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season Satellite image of Hurricane Wilma over Florida on October 24, 2005