Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered the most powerful hurricane on record in the open Atlantic region, outside of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico , until it was surpassed by Hurricane Dorian two years later. It was also the third-strongest Atlantic hurricane at landfall ever recorded, just behind the Labor Day Hurricane and Dorian.
It was also the most intense hurricane to strike the continental United States since Katrina in , the first major hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma in the same year, and the first Category 4 hurricane to strike the state since Charley in The word Irmageddon was coined soon after the hurricane to describe the damage caused by the hurricane. Irma developed from a tropical wave near the Cape Verde Islands on August Favorable conditions allowed Irma to rapidly intensify into a Category 3 hurricane on the SaffirβSimpson wind scale by late on August The storm's intensity fluctuated between Categories 2 and 3 for the next several days, due to a series of eyewall replacement cycles.
On September 4, Irma resumed intensifying, becoming a Category 5 hurricane by early on the next day. Irma was the second-most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in in terms of barometric pressure, and the strongest worldwide in in terms of wind speed. Another eyewall replacement cycle caused Irma to weaken back to a Category 4 hurricane, but the storm re-attained Category 5 status before making landfall in Cuba. Although Irma briefly weakened to a Category 2 storm while making landfall on Cuba, the system re-intensified to Category 4 status as it crossed the warm waters of the Straits of Florida , before making landfall on Cudjoe Key on September Irma then weakened to Category 3 status, prior to another landfall in Florida on Marco Island later that day.
The system degraded into a remnant low over Alabama and ultimately dissipated on September 13 over Missouri. Virgin Islands. Hurricane Irma was the top Google searched term in the U. As Irma continued approaching the Leeward Islands, the hurricane underwent a second and more robust period of rapid intensification, becoming a Category 5 hurricane early on September 5.
Irma acquired annular characteristics around this time, with the storm exhibiting a large, symmetric CDO and an impressive satellite appearance. At UTC on September 6, Irma made landfall along the northern coast of Barbuda at peak intensity, with the storm's central minimum pressure having bottomed out at mbar Irma maintained Category 5 strength for several days as it passed north of the Greater Antilles.
