Hurricane Wilma (2005)

Hurricane Wilma was one of the three catastrophic hurricanes of the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season along with Rita and Katrina.

Meteorological History
During mid-October 2005, a large area of disturbed weather developed across much of the Caribbean Sea, as a lower-tropospheric low interacted with a broad area of disturbed weather, aided by an upper-level low across the region. A broad area of low pressure developed on October 13 to the southeast of Jamaica, and slowly became more concentrated as upper-level wind shear gradually decreased. Dvorak classifications began on October 14, and by late October 15 the surface circulation in the system became well enough defined, with sufficiently organized deep convection, for the National Hurricane Center to designate the system as Tropical Depression Twenty-Four while located about 220 mi (350 km) east-southeast of Grand Cayman.[1]

The depression drifted southwestward because of the influence of two ridges to its north and with warm sea surface temperatures and a favorable upper-level environment, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Wilma on October 17. Initially, development was slow, due to the large size of the storm and a flat pressure gradient. However, convection gradually organized, and from October 18 through October 19, Wilma underwent explosive deepening over the open waters of the Caribbean Sea. Around 12:00 UTC on October 18, the system intensified into a hurricane. In a 30‑hour period, the pressure dropped from 982 mbar (hPa; 29.00 inHg) to the record-low of 882 mbar (hPa; 26.05 inHg), while the winds increased to 185 mph (295 km/h). During its intensification on October 19, the hurricane's eye shrank to as small as 2.3 mi (3.7 km) in diameter, becoming the smallest eye ever seen in a tropical cyclone.[1]

Satellite video of Wilma's lifespan.

On October 20, Wilma weakened below Category 5 intensity due to an eyewall replacement cycle, began to turn towards the northwest, and further slowed its movement. Late on October 21, Wilma made landfall on the island of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, at around 21:45 UTC with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and then again made a second landfall on the Mexican mainland six hours later and only slightly weaker. Wilma continued to drift slowly towards the north over the Yucatán Peninsula, although it weakened to a moderate hurricane while over land, it reemerged over the southern Gulf of Mexico on October 23 around 00:00 UTC. Despite Wilma spending 24 hours over land, it reëmerged with little intensity lost, and began to re-intensify shortly after. This was perhaps due to its large size and because the majority of its circulation remained over the warm waters of the northwest Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. A powerful trough turned the hurricane to the northeast and accelerated its forward motion. Its large eye remained well-organized, and Wilma intensified, despite increasing amounts of wind shear, briefly producing winds of 125 mph (200 km/h), before making landfall on Cape Romano, Florida, as a 120 mph (195 km/h) major hurricane.[1]

Wilma crossed the state in about 4.6 hours and weakened to a Category 2 hurricane, with winds of 110 mph (175 km/h), after entering the Atlantic Ocean near Jupiter, Florida. Key West received several feet of water in the low-lying areas and flooded homes. The Lower Keys also experienced an unusual flood: it occurred twice. First, as the storm approached Florida, it pushed water across the keys from south to north. As the storm finally crossed into the Everglades, all the water that had been pushed by the storm was released as Wilma crossed the peninsula. The water then raced back across the Lower Keys a second time and went back out to sea. This caused additional flooding and costly damage. Possibly due to less friction of the eyewall or moving over warm waters of the Gulf Stream, Wilma again re-intensified to reach winds of 125 mph (200 km/h) and subsequently absorbed Tropical Storm Alpha to the south, before cold air and wind shear penetrated the inner core of convection. On October 26, Wilma transitioned into an extratropical cyclone, and on the next day, the remnants of Wilma were absorbed by another extratropical storm over Atlantic Canada.[1]

Impact
Later on it was revealed how powerful Wilma was and the entire Gulf of Mexico went into kind of a lock down. Casualties and Damage was massive