Hurricane Irma Makes First U.S. Landfall

The center of Hurricane Irma has made landfall near the Cudjoe Key in the Lower Florida Keys, about 15 miles east of Key West, Florida with sustained winds of 130 mph and a central pressure of 929 millibars. Landfall came around 9:10 a.m. EDT.

Locations from Saddlebunch Key to Sugarloaf Key to Cudjoe Key to Summerland Key and Big Pine Key and the western end of the Seven Mile Bridge are in the eye right now.

The city of Key West will not be in the eye.

The last wind report at the Key West International Airport was N at 51 gusting 79 mph. The peak wind observed there was 81 mph at 7:07 a.m. EDT. The Key West NWS recently reported a 91 mph gust.

A gust of 106 mph was reported at the National Key Deer Refuge in Big Pine Key.

The barometer at 8:28 a.m. EDT was 28.11 inches or 952 millibars. The barometer has started to rise at 8:38 a.m. EDT.

An employee at the NWS reported seeing large trees down near United and White Street in downtown Key West across from City Hall.

The Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft was able to penetrate the center before landfall at 7:03 a.m. CDT and found surface winds of 127 mph, flight level winds of 139 mph and a central pressure of 931 millibars, but the dropsonde did not appear to splash in the absolute calm center.

The eye is indeed open to the south, We had been surmising that it was attenuation from the NWS Key West Radar, and it probably is a little of both, but definitely a sign the storm could be going through another eyewall replacement cycle. There was a good bit of lightning in the northern eyewall about two hours ago, which also could be a sign of weakening.

Irma is the strongest hurricane to hit the Florida Keys since Hurricane Donna hit on this date in 1960.

Category: ALL POSTS, Tropical