Damn. That was quick.
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras - Gathering strength at a fierce pace, Hurricane Wilma grew into one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded early Wednesday, a Category 5 monster packing 175 mph wind that forecasts warned was "extremely dangerous."
Wilma was dumping rain on Central America and Mexico, and forecasters warned of a "significant threat" to Florida by the weekend.
"All interests in the Florida Keys and the Florida peninsula should closely monitor the progress of extremely dangerous Hurricane Wilma," the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in its latest advisory.
Based on a preliminary reading of its pressure, forecasters said Wilma was perhaps the most powerful Atlantic storm on record.
A U.S. Air Force reconnaissance planes recorded a preliminary pressure reading Wednesday morning of 884 millibars, the lowest minimum pressure for a hurricane in the Atlantic. But the pressure reading was not yet official because it had not been immediately verified. Lower pressure translates into higher wind speed.
The strongest on record, based on the lowest pressure reading, is Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which registered an 888 millibar reading.
Wilma gathered force rapidly over the last day. Only Tuesday morning, it grew from a tropical storm into a weak hurricane.