Earliest Category 5 Hurricane on Record

Some may remember a tropical storm named Emily that developed in July 2005.  Little did we know, though, when Emily first developed that it would become a record setting storm.  Emily made three landfalls from the Caribbean Islands to the Yucatan Peninsula to mainland Mexico.

2005 was the busiest hurricane season on record for the Atlantic Basin.  Already the fifth named storm of the young 2005 hurricane season, Tropical Storm Emily became a hurricane July 13.  Continuing to intensify, Emily, on this date 9 years ago, July 16, 2005, became the strongest July hurricane on record.  Emily reached Category 5 status with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph and a minimum central pressure of 929 millibars.

With any tropical storm or hurricane, an inverse relationship exists between air pressure and wind speed where the lower the air pressure in the center of the storm, the higher the winds are around it.   Hurricane Emily was one of four Category 5 hurricanes on record during the 2005 season – along with Katrina, Rita and Wilma – which broke the record for most Category 5 storms in a singular season.

In contrast to 2005, the 2014 season has been much quieter so far with only one named storm.  I mentioned Hurricane Arthur in my July 12 column.  There are currently no systems developing in the tropical Atlantic.  However, that will likely change as we head toward the most active part of the hurricane season from mid-August to mid-October.