Pressure Dropping, Down to 988 mb
Since the advisory was issued, recon found a 30-second average flight-level wind of 62 knots, a peak 10-second flight-level wind of 64 knots, and a peak SFMR surface estimate of 52 knots.
Even more importantly, they found a pressure of 989.0 millibars, which was adjusted to 988 millibars since the winds were not exactly calm at that location. This report was at 7:22 p.m. CDT.
That’s a drop of 4 millibars since the last report at 601 pm and the advisory at 7 pm.
So, Debby is very near hurricane strength at this hour and may well be by 10 p.m.