At 6:30am on October 24, 2005, Category 3 Hurricane #Wilma made its final landfall in southwest Florida with peak winds of 120 mph. The huge eye took just 4 hours to cross the peninsula but its wind and storm surge caused tremendous damage across all of central and southern Florida.
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October 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
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This (just about 😉) wraps up my sequence of posts on the 20th anniversary of the infamous record-breaking Hurricane Wilma that I started on October 15.
You can read all the storm's details in NHC's Storm Report at www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL2...
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You can read all the storm's details in NHC's Storm Report at www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL2...
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October 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
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Twenty years ago today, Hurricane #Wilma was intensifying and centered just north of the western tip of Cuba in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. It was rapidly moving toward the Florida peninsula. This 9-day satellite loop covers Wilma's lifetime: it begins on Oct 15 and ends on Oct 24.
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October 23, 2025 at 4:40 PM
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Here's a full wind swath from one of our simulations (see Part 2, Figure 2). Now the Miami metro area really stands out. The much higher friction in urban areas reduces wind speeds significantly more than over the open marshland of the Everglades.
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October 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
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I created this animation of surface wind & pressure from 10-second output from the WRF model using one of our many simulations of the storm.
Notice how dramatically the wind speed decreases over land due to friction. Also pay attention to lower wind speeds over the #Miami metro area.
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Notice how dramatically the wind speed decreases over land due to friction. Also pay attention to lower wind speeds over the #Miami metro area.
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October 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
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Twenty years ago today, Hurricane #Wilma made its first landfall, six days after forming.
This landfall was on Cozumel and was also its most intense: Category 4 hurricane with 150mph sustained winds in the eyewall.
This 3-day radar loop from Cancún captures the landfall and 1-day stall.
#wilma20
This landfall was on Cozumel and was also its most intense: Category 4 hurricane with 150mph sustained winds in the eyewall.
This 3-day radar loop from Cancún captures the landfall and 1-day stall.
#wilma20
October 21, 2025 at 11:47 AM
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NEW: On this day 20 years ago, Hurricane Wilma made landfall in South Florida, providing the final punch in a fight of a hurricane season. We spoke with @bmcnoldy.bsky.social about the 2005 hurricane season and the storm that walloped Miami. #Wilma20
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...
October 24, 2005: Hurricane Wilma makes landfall, rocks Miami-Dade County (with Brian McNoldy)
Podcast Episode · This Day in Miami History Podcast · 10/24/2025 · 34m
podcasts.apple.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:21 PM
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Hurricane warnings covered western Cuba, the western Bahamas, and all of central and southern Florida. The eye and the overall wind field were very large, so places quite far from the storm's center experienced tropical storm conditions.
More on the Florida landfall coming soon...
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More on the Florida landfall coming soon...
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October 23, 2025 at 4:40 PM
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Twenty years ago today, Hurricane #Wilma reached its peak intensity, and achieved the lowest central pressure of any Atlantic hurricane on record: 882 millibars. At that peak intensity, sustained winds were 185 mph in the eyewall, which was only a record-small 2.3 miles in diameter.
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October 19, 2025 at 11:56 AM
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In the early morning hours of October 18, 2005, Tropical Storm #Wilma began the most extreme rapid intensification on record: a 97 millibar drop in 24 hours. A tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in a day -- still a record.
Satellite images from October 18 and 19 at 0600 UTC:
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Satellite images from October 18 and 19 at 0600 UTC:
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October 18, 2025 at 12:41 AM
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Here is the full sequence of the National Hurricane Center's 6-hourly intensity forecasts in colored lines, with the observed intensity in the thick black line.
The peak intensity was 160 kt on the morning of October 19th. The intensity forecast made just 24 hours prior was 90 kt.
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The peak intensity was 160 kt on the morning of October 19th. The intensity forecast made just 24 hours prior was 90 kt.
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October 18, 2025 at 12:41 AM
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In the early morning hours of October 17, 2005, Tropical Depression 24 was upgraded to Tropical Storm #Wilma, making it the earliest 22nd named storm on record (at the time... that record was later surpassed by Wilfred on September 17, 2000).
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October 17, 2025 at 11:31 AM
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This was my brief blog post about Tropical Depression 24 forming on October 15, 2005: bmcnoldy.blogspot.com/2005/10/td24...
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TD24 forms in the western Caribbean...
Updates and summaries on tropical Atlantic activity... including easterly waves, tropical storms, subtropical storms, and hurricanes.
bmcnoldy.blogspot.com
October 15, 2025 at 12:11 PM
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Twenty years ago today, Tropical Depression 24 formed near Jamaica. This went on to become Hurricane #Wilma, a storm that still holds several incredible records in Atlantic hurricane history.
I'll be sharing more about Wilma as we progress through its 20th anniversary.
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I'll be sharing more about Wilma as we progress through its 20th anniversary.
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October 15, 2025 at 11:27 AM
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This 9-day infrared satellite animation shows the life of Hurricane #Wilma from October 15 to 24, 2005.
From a Tropical Depression on the 15th, to a Tropical Storm on the 17th, then the most intense hurricane in Atlantic history on the 19th, this was one for the history books.
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From a Tropical Depression on the 15th, to a Tropical Storm on the 17th, then the most intense hurricane in Atlantic history on the 19th, this was one for the history books.
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October 15, 2025 at 12:50 PM
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I created an estimated surface wind swath spanning Wilma's lifetime using a parametric model based on the observed storm track, intensity, and size.
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October 15, 2025 at 12:50 PM
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This was my brief blog post about Tropical Depression 24 forming on October 15, 2005: bmcnoldy.blogspot.com/2005/10/td24...
#wilma20
#wilma20
TD24 forms in the western Caribbean...
Updates and summaries on tropical Atlantic activity... including easterly waves, tropical storms, subtropical storms, and hurricanes.
bmcnoldy.blogspot.com
October 15, 2025 at 11:35 AM
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- Wilma was the record-earliest 22nd named storm formation on October 17. This record was later toppled by an entire month by Wilfred on September 17, 2020.
- Wilma holds the record for the lowest central pressure in any Atlantic hurricane: 882 mb.
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- Wilma holds the record for the lowest central pressure in any Atlantic hurricane: 882 mb.
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October 15, 2025 at 12:50 PM
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Wilma maintained tropical storm status for the next 24 hours.
At this point, the track forecast took it toward the Yucatan Peninsula in four days, and the intensity forecast showed gradual intensification to a Category 2 hurricane along the way.
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At this point, the track forecast took it toward the Yucatan Peninsula in four days, and the intensity forecast showed gradual intensification to a Category 2 hurricane along the way.
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October 17, 2025 at 11:31 AM
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Here's an extremely zoomed-in version of just the tiny inner core. Keep in mind that GOES-12 had 1-km resolution visible imagery, but these features are very small!
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October 19, 2025 at 11:56 AM
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In 2021, we published a 2-part paper on the evaluation of hurricane surface winds over land using Wilma as a case study.
Part 1: journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...
Part 2: journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...
@davenolan305.bsky.social
@jimmy-yunge.bsky.social
@wxdocg.bsky.social
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Part 1: journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...
Part 2: journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...
@davenolan305.bsky.social
@jimmy-yunge.bsky.social
@wxdocg.bsky.social
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October 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
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- Wilma holds the record for the most rapid intensification: 97 mb in 24 hours. It also holds the record for the fastest increase from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane: 24 hours.
- Wilma holds the record for the smallest eye: 2.3 miles in diameter (a "pinhole" eye).
#wilma20
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- Wilma holds the record for the smallest eye: 2.3 miles in diameter (a "pinhole" eye).
#wilma20
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October 15, 2025 at 12:50 PM
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