Hurricane Wilma threatens Florida

Hurricane Wilma, a Category 5 storm packing maximum sustained winds near 275 km/h, is tracking to hit Mexico and Cuba, en route to reaching the Florida Keys by Oct. 22.The U.S. National Hurricane Center notes Wilma “is forecast to lose some strength as it targets Florida for a weekend landfall.”As of Oct. 19, at 2 p.m., Wilma became the most intense hurricane recorded in the Atlantic Basin, with a minimum central pressure of 882 millibars. The lower the pressure, the more intense the hurricane. Hurricane Gilbert, a Category 5 storm that caused $800 million in insurable damages in Jamaica and Mexico in 1988, had a central pressure of 888 mb.Hurricane Wilma is the season’s 21st named storm and 12th hurricane. It is wobbling southeast towards Cozumel, Mexico, tracking west-northeast, at a speed of between 7-11 mph. It is expected to turn towards the northwest by Oct. 20 and track towards the Florida Keys.In one public notice, the Center notes there is an outside chance the storm could threaten New England as it travels North.The National Hurricane Centre uses letters of the alphabet in sequential order to name hurricanes. “Since the [alphabetized] name list has been started in the Atlantic in 1950, the furthest they have gone down the list has been Hurricane Wilma in 2005,” the Center noted.