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Hurricane Wilma seen strengthening, heads for Florida

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 October 2005, 10:31 CDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - All seven major weather models predicted Hurricane Wilma, the 12th hurricane of the season, could strengthen into a Category 3 storm before entering the Gulf of Mexico and heading for Florida's Gulf Coast later this week.

The models show the storm, now in the Caribbean, was moving northwest to the waters between Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and western Cuba, where it will likely turn northeast toward the south-central Gulf Coast of Florida.

Wilma will probably spare U.S. oil and natural gas rigs and refineries on the Gulf of Mexico, which had been badly battered by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in late August and September.

In an advisory at 11 a.m. EDT, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm's maximum sustained winds were 75 miles per hour, with higher gusts, making Wilma a Category 1 storm (74-95 mph winds) on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

The NHC predicted the storm would become a major hurricane over the next day or two and could strengthen into a Category 3 storm with winds from 111-130 mph before entering the Gulf of Mexico.

The center of the storm was about 195 miles south-southeast of Grand Cayman and about 200 miles east-northeast of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Nicaragua-Honduras border, the NHC said.

It said Wilma would likely continue moving toward the northwest near 7 mph over the next 24 hours.

The NHC will issue an intermediate advisory at 2 p.m. followed by a complete advisory at 5 p.m. Position: Lat. 16.5 degrees North

Long. 80.6 degrees West

(195 miles south-southeast of Grand Cayman) Track: Northwest near 7 mph Strength: 75 mph maximum sustained winds

LATEST FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAXIMUM WINDS

INITIAL 18/1500Z 16.5N 80.6W 65 KT

12HR VT 19/0000Z 17.0N 81.2W 75 KT

24HR VT 19/1200Z 17.7N 82.3W 90 KT

36HR VT 20/0000Z 18.5N 83.5W 100 KT

48HR VT 20/1200Z 19.6N 84.5W 105 KT

72HR VT 21/1200Z 22.0N 85.5W 105 KT

96HR VT 22/1200Z 24.0N 84.0W 100 KT 120HR VT 23/1200Z 28.5N 78.5W 75 KT

(NOTES -- Second column shows date and GMT time. To convert GMT time to EDT, subtract 4 hours. Third and fourth column show coordinates. Fifth column shows maximum sustained speed in knots. 1 knot = 1.15 mph. 34 knots or greater is tropical storm strength. 64 knots or greater is hurricane strength. U.S. offshore oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico is concentrated north of 27 degrees North and west of 88 degrees West.)

Source: REUTERS

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