Meteorological history of Hurricane Wilma
| Category 5 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Hurricane Wilma track map
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| Formed | October 15, 2005 |
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| Dissipated | October 26, 2005 |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 185 mph (295 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 882 mbar (hPa); 26.05 inHg (Record low in Atlantic) |
| Areas affected | Hispaniola, Jamaica, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Cozumel, Yucatán Peninsula, Florida, Bahamas, East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Canada, Europe |
| Part of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season | |
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Hurricane Wilma was the most intense tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin on record, with an atmospheric pressure of 882 hPa (mbar, 26.05 inHg). Wilma's destructive journey began in the second week of October 2005. A large area of disturbed weather developed across much of the Caribbean Sea and gradually organized to the southeast of Jamaica. By late on October 15, the system was sufficiently organized for the National Hurricane Center to designate it as Tropical Depression Twenty-Four.
The depression drifted southwestward, and under favorable conditions, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Wilma on October 17. Initially, development was slow due to its large size, though convection steadily organized. From October 18, and through the following day, Wilma underwent explosive deepening over the open waters of the Caribbean; in a 30-hour period, the system's central atmospheric pressure dropped from 982 mbar (29.00 inHg) to the record-low value of 882 mbar (26.05 inHg), while the winds increased to 185 mph (298 km/h). At its peak intensity, the eye of Wilma was about 2.3 miles (3.7 km) in diameter, the smallest known eye in an Atlantic hurricane. After the inner eye dissipated due to an eyewall replacement cycle, Hurricane Wilma weakened to Category 4 status, and on October 21, it made landfall on Cozumel and on the Mexican mainland with winds of about 150 mph (240 km/h).
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