Hurricane Irma’s final chapters have yet to be written, but the storm has already earned its place in the history books.
According to NOAA, Irma’s winds peaked at 185 mph. That means it is tied as the second strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin. It shares this dubious honor with the Labor Day /Florida Keys Hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Gilbert of 1988, and Hurricane Wilma of 2005. Only Hurricane Allen in 1980 was stronger with winds clocked at 190 mph. That said, Irma now ranks as the strongest storm on record in the Atlantic outside of the Carribean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
Irma’s winds remained at 185 mph for 37 hours. That is the longest any storm on the planet has maintained that level of intensity. The previous record of 24 hours was set by Super Typhoon Haiyan in the northwest Pacific in 2013. Furthermore, Irma remained a Category 5 hurricane for three consecutive days, the longest such measurement since the satellite era began in 1966.