The Keys before Hurricane Irma , Florida , hotels, resorts, beaches, scuba diving, coral,

The Keys before Hurricane Irma , Florida , hotels, resorts, beaches, scuba diving, coral

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This article documents a current tropical cyclone. Information regarding it may change rapidly as more information becomes available; news reports and other primary sources may be unreliable. The last updates to this article may not reflect the most current information about this tropical cyclone for all areas. Please refer to your local weather service or media outlets for the latest weather information pertaining to a specific location. (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Hurricane Irma 4
Current storm status
Category 4 hurricane (1-min mean)
Irma Geostationary VIS-IR 2017.png
Satellite image
11L 2017 5day.png
Forecast map
As of: 5:00 a.m. EDT September 8 (09:00 UTC September 9)
Location: 22.5°N 78.8°W ± 10 nm
About 45 mi (70 km) E of Caibarién, Cuba
About 245 mi (395 km) SSE of Miami, Florida
Sustained winds: 135 kn (155 mph; 250 km/h) (1-min mean)
gusting to 165 kn (190 mph; 305 km/h)
Pressure: 930 mbar (hPa; 27.47 inHg)
Movement: WNW at 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h)
See more detailed information.
Hurricane Irma is an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that is currently making landfall in Cuba and is threatening the Southeastern United States. It is the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin outside the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and is tied with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane as the strongest landfalling cyclone on record in the Atlantic basin as well as the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Wilma of 2005 in terms of maximum sustained winds, the most intense in terms of pressure since Dean in 2007, and the first of such intensity to make landfall anywhere in the Atlantic since Felix in 2007. Irma is also the first Category 5 hurricane on record to affect the northern Leeward Islands, and only the second hurricane on record to make landfall in Cuba at such an intensity, with the other being a hurricane in 1924. A typical Cape Verde hurricane,[1][2][3] Irma developed on August 30 near the Cape Verde Islands from a tropical wave that had moved off the west African coast two days prior. It is the ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season.[4][5][6]
Under favorable conditions, Irma rapidly intensified shortly after formation, becoming a Category 2 hurricane within a mere 24 hours. It became a Category 3 hurricane (and therefore a major hurricane) shortly afterward; however, the intensity fluctuated for the next several days due to a series of eyewall replacement cycles. On September 5, Irma became a Category 5 hurricane, and by early the next day, Irma reached peak intensity with 185 mph (295 km/h) winds and a minimum pressure of 914 mbar (914 hPa; 27.0 inHg). This ties it as the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane nd the Virgin Islands as a Category 5 hurricane
The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost portion of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. The islands lie along the Florida Straits, dividing the Atlantic Ocean to the east from the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and defining one edge of Florida Bay. At the nearest point, the southern part of Key West is just 90 miles (140 km) from Cuba. The Florida Keys are between about 23.5 and 25.5 degrees North latitude.
More than 95 percent of the land area lies in Monroe County, but a small portion extends northeast into Miami-Dade County, such as Totten Key. The total land area is 137.3 square miles (356 km2). As of the 2010 census the population was 73,090 with an average density of 532.34 per square mile (205.54/km2),[1] although much of the population is concentrated in a few areas of much higher density, such as the city of Key West, which has 32% of the entire population of the Keys. The US Census population estimate for 2014 is 77,136.
The city of Key West is the county seat of Monroe County. The county consists of a section on the mainland which is almost entirely in Everglades National Park, and the Keys islands from Key Largo to the Dry Tortugas.