Hurricane Irma
Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread destruction across its path in early September 2017. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered the most powerful hurricane on record in the open Atlantic region, outside of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, until it was surpassed by Hurricane Dorian two years later. It was also the third-strongest Atlantic hurricane at landfall ever recorded, just behind the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane and Dorian.[1]
This article is about the Atlantic hurricane of 2017. For other storms of the same name, see List of storms named Irma.Meteorological history
August 30, 2017
September 12, 2017
September 13, 2017
180 mph (285 km/h)
134
$77.2 billion (2017 USD)
Cape Verde, Leeward Islands (especially Barbuda, Saint Barthélemy, Anguilla, Saint Martin and the Virgin Islands), Greater Antilles (Cuba and Puerto Rico), Turks and Caicos Islands, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Eastern United States (especially Florida)
The ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, second major hurricane,[nb 1] and first Category 5 hurricane of the extremely active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Irma caused widespread and catastrophic damage throughout its long lifetime, particularly in the northeastern Caribbean and the Florida Keys. It was also the most intense hurricane to strike the continental United States since Katrina in 2005, the first major hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma in the same year, and the first Category 4 hurricane to strike the state since Charley in 2004. The word Irmageddon was coined soon after the hurricane to describe the damage caused by the hurricane.[3]
Irma developed from a tropical wave near the Cape Verde Islands on August 30. Favorable conditions allowed Irma to rapidly intensify into a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson wind scale by late on August 31. The storm's intensity fluctuated between Categories 2 and 3 for the next several days, due to a series of eyewall replacement cycles. On September 4, Irma resumed intensifying, becoming a Category 5 hurricane by early on the next day. Early on September 6, Irma peaked with 1-minute sustained winds of 180 mph (290 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 914 hPa (27.0 inHg). Irma was the second-most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2017 in terms of barometric pressure, and the strongest worldwide in 2017 in terms of wind speed. Another eyewall replacement cycle caused Irma to weaken back to a Category 4 hurricane, but the storm re-attained Category 5 status before making landfall in Cuba. Although Irma briefly weakened to a Category 2 storm while making landfall on Cuba, the system re-intensified to Category 4 status as it crossed the warm waters of the Straits of Florida, before making landfall on Cudjoe Key on September 10. Irma then weakened to Category 3 status, prior to another landfall in Florida on Marco Island later that day. The system degraded into a remnant low over Alabama and ultimately dissipated on September 13 over Missouri.
The storm caused catastrophic damage in Barbuda, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Anguilla, and the Virgin Islands as a Category 5 hurricane. The hurricane caused at least 134 deaths: one in Anguilla; one in Barbados; three in Barbuda; four in the British Virgin Islands; 10 in Cuba; 11 in the French West Indies; one in Haiti; three in Puerto Rico; four on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten; 92 in the contiguous United States, and four in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Hurricane Irma was the top Google searched term in the U.S. and globally in 2017.[4]
Records
Irma set multiple records for intensity, especially at easterly longitudes, time spent at such an intensity, and its intensity at landfall. When Irma reached Category 5 intensity with winds of 175 mph (282 km/h) at 11:45 UTC on September 5 at 57.7°W,[7] it became the easternmost Atlantic hurricane of this strength on record, surpassing Hurricane David of 1979, later beaten by Hurricane Lorenzo 2 years later.[271] By 00:15 UTC on September 6, Irma reached peak intensity with 180 mph (285 km/h) winds and a minimum pressure of 914 mbar (914 hPa; 27.0 inHg). This ties it with Hurricane Mitch of 1998 and Hurricane Rita of 2005 as the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane by wind speed. Only five other Atlantic hurricanes have been recorded with wind speeds higher than Irma: Hurricane Allen of 1980, which had maximum sustained winds of 190 mph (310 km/h), and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Hurricane Gilbert of 1988, Hurricane Wilma of 2005, and Hurricane Dorian of 2019, all of which had peak winds of 185 mph (298 km/h).[272] At the time, Irma was also the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean outside the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico; later surpassed by Hurricane Dorian,[273] and was the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Wilma in terms of maximum sustained winds, and the most intense in terms of pressure since Dean in 2007.[274] In addition, Irma achieved one of the longest durations of Category 5 strength winds,[7] and the third-highest accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index for a tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin, with a value of 64.9 units. Only the 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane and Hurricane Ivan in 2004 achieved higher values.[275][276]
On September 6, Irma made landfall on the islands of Barbuda, Saint Martin, and Virgin Gorda at peak strength. This ties Irma with cyclones Monica of 2006 and Winston of 2016, and typhoons Zeb of 1998 and Megi of 2010 as the seventh-strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall globally – in terms of sustained winds – trailing only Typhoon Goni of 2020 which bore winds of 195 mph (314 km/h) at landfall, Typhoon Haiyan of 2013 and Typhoon Meranti of 2016, which bore winds of 190 mph (310 km/h) at landfall, and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Typhoon Joan of 1959, and Hurricane Dorian of 2019, which bore winds of 185 mph (298 km/h) at landfall.[277][278] Irma is second to the 1935 Labor Day hurricane and Hurricane Dorian of 2019 as the strongest landfalling cyclone on record in the Atlantic basin, and is the first hurricane to make landfall anywhere in the Atlantic at Category 5 status since Felix in 2007.[279] Irma is the first recorded Category 5 hurricane to affect the northern Leeward Islands, and was one of the worst storms to hit the region on record, along with Hurricane Donna in 1960 and Hurricane Luis in 1995. In addition, Irma is only the second hurricane on record to make landfall in Cuba at Category 5 intensity, with the other being a hurricane in 1924.[274] Furthermore, when Irma made landfall on Barbuda, Saint Martin, Virgin Gorda, and Cuba as a Category 5 hurricane, it became one of only two recorded Atlantic storms to make landfall in multiple nations at this strength; the other was Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which struck both Eleuthera and the United States as a Category 5 hurricane.[280]
Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys with winds of 130 mph (210 km/h) and a pressure of 931 mbar (931 hPa; 27.5 inHg), making it the strongest hurricane to strike Florida in terms of wind speed since Charley in 2004, and the most intense to strike the state in terms of barometric pressure since Andrew in 1992. In the span of two weeks, two Category 4 hurricanes—Harvey and Irma—struck the continental United States, the first time on record two Atlantic tropical cyclones of such strength made landfall on the country in the same hurricane season.[281][282] This also marked only the third occurrence of two consecutive Atlantic storms making landfall in the United States as major hurricanes. The other two instances were the Great Charleston and Cheniere Caminada hurricanes in 1893, and hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne in 2004.[275]