I keep reading the Irma is a CAT 5 storm, but none of the posted wind speeds come close to the CAT threshold for a CAT 5, which requires sustained winds of at least 156 mph. Irma is still a major hurricane, but has it actually made landfall any place as a CAT 5?
Yes, landfall has happened on multiple islands already, though the wind speed reports you’re seeing are not necessarily indicative of maximums on the island... they could be maximums for a single point of data collection, but that’s not the same thing.
Not sure what anemometer devices can survive Cat 5 wind speeds and higher gusts. Do you know of any?
It does seem the “good news” is that the worst quadrant of the hurricane for the most part is missing land.
I think it’s better to be right in the center of the eye than to have the eye hit just south of you, because then you get the Northeast Quadrant, which is the worst part.