Hurricane Wilma forms and has its sights aimed at Florida

[greatdarkwing]

I might be putting up hurricane shutters on Friday This hurricane season just wont end...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/10/18/wilma/index.html][/URL]


Wilma ties record as 12th hurricane in a season
Path could take storm past Cuba toward Florida

Tuesday, October 18, 2005; Posted: 5:36 p.m. EDT (21:36 GMT)
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- After days of drifting in the Caribbean Sea, Wilma became a record-tying hurricane Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said.

At 2 p.m. ET, Wilma had top sustained winds at near 80 mph (130 kph) and was the 12th Atlantic hurricane of the season, tying the record set in 1969.

The storm is expected to strengthen further Tuesday, and Wilma should become a Category 3 storm in "the next day or two," according to a hurricane center advisory.

The center of Wilma was about 180 miles (290 kilometers) south of Grand Cayman Island, and the storm was moving toward the west-northwest at 8 mph (12 kph), the hurricane center said.

A 150-mile stretch of the Honduran coast is under a tropical storm warning, and the Cayman Islands are under tropical storm warning and hurricane watch.

The hurricane center warned western Cuba, Yucatan Peninsula, South Florida and the Florida Keys to monitor the progress of this potentially dangerous hurricane.

The five-day projection for Wilma's path indicates the storm may skirt the western tip of Cuba, then turn to the northeast and toward the South Florida Gulf Coast. However, because of the fluctuating conditions involved in hurricane movement, long-range forecasts often change.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whose state was hit by hurricanes Dennis in July and Katrina in August, said Monday that Floridians have stepped up their preparations for another storm.

"This storm is a volatile storm," Bush said. "We don't really know where it's going to go, and so the entire peninsula needs to keep an eye to the south and east of us. We'll probably have a better idea by the middle of the week."

As much as 12 inches of rain are possible in the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica, with forecasters predicting 4 to 6 inches in most areas.

Wilma has bands of hurricane-force winds that extend 15 miles (30 kilometers) from the center of the storm, with the outer bands of tropical-storm force winds reaching out up to 120 miles (195 kilometers).

So far this season there have been 21 named storms, tying a record set in 1933. If there is another tropical storm, it would be named Alpha, for the first letter in the Greek alphabet. Hurricane season ends November 30.