Chris Mooney is a visiting associate in the 
Dean made landfall a few hours ago while still intensifying, and set some scary records. As the National Hurricane Center details:
A DROPSONDE IN THE EYE MEASURED A CENTRAL PRESSURE OF 906 MB JUST PRIOR TO LANDFALL. SOME HISTORIC NOTES ARE IN ORDER HERE. THE 906 MB CENTRAL PRESSURE IS THE NINTH LOWEST ON RECORD FOR AN ATLANTIC BASIN HURRICANE...AND THE THIRD LOWEST AT LANDFALL BEHIND THE 1935 LABOR DAY HURRICANE IN THE FLORIDA KEYS AND HURRICANE GILBERT OF 1988 IN CANCUN MEXICO. DEAN IS ALSO THE FIRST CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE TO MAKE LANDFALL IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN SINCE ANDREW OF 1992.
Katrina's central pressure was 902, but its maximum winds were 150 knots (172.5 mph). Dean's maximum sustained winds at landfall are currently estimated by the hurricane center to have been 145 knots--the strongest in the world so far this year--but don't be surprised if they get bumped up in retrospective analyses later on.
Comments
1150 AM CDT WED AUG 22 2007
Looks like it's down to a Category 2, fortunately.
THE CENTER OF HURRICANE DEAN MADE LANDFALL IN MEXICO NEAR THE TOWN
OF TECOLUTLA...JUST EAST OF GUTIERREZ ZAMORA AND ABOUT 40 MILES
SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF TUXPAN AT ABOUT 1130 AM CDT...1630 UTC. THE
ESTIMATED INTENSITY OF DEAN AT LANDFALL WAS 100 MPH...160
KPH....CATEGORY TWO ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE.
Would it kill them to use lower-case?
Posted by: Jeff Lanam | August 22, 2007 1:31 PM