“Historic” Hurricane Ian could make landfall as a Category 5

This GOES-East GeoCcolor satellite image taken at 10:10 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022, and provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shows Hurricane Ian over the Gulf of Mexico. Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane Tuesday, knocking out power to the entire country and leaving millions people without electricity, before churning on a collision course with Florida over warm Gulf waters amid expectations it would strengthen into a catastrophic Category 4 storm. (NOAA via AP)

(CAPE CORAL, FLA) — Hurricane Ian is growing more powerful and more dangerous as it bears down on the Florida Gulf Coast.
The National Hurricane Center reports that Ian had become a Category 4 hurricane at 5 a.m. Eastern Time.
Current projections has the storm making landfall near Cape Coral later today.
Ian is expected to generate life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds, and flooding in communities along hundreds of miles of Florida’s western coastline.
The extremely dangerous storm is packing sustained winds of 155 miles an hour as it churns about 75 miles southwest of Naples, Florida.
Some storm experts predict the winds could top 157 mph making Ian a monster category 5 before landfall. Recon aircraft have already clocked winds over 158 mph.
Hurricane, storm surge, and tropical storm warnings are in effect for dozens of cities and towns.

SUMMARY OF 500 AM EDT…0900 UTC…INFORMATION
———————————————-
LOCATION…25.6N 82.9W
ABOUT 75 MI…125 KM WSW OF NAPLES FLORIDA
ABOUT 105 MI…165 KM SSW OF PUNTA GORDA FLORIDA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS…155 MPH…220 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT…NNE OR 15 DEGREES AT 10 MPH…17 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE…936 MB…27.82 INCHES

Featured Stories | Storm Central

By Beth Stibal | September 28, 2022