Hurricane Irma joined a group of the most dangerous hurricanes in the history of the Atlantic basin on Tuesday as its sustained winds grew to 180 mph with higher gusts. Florida and the entire Caribbean are on alert for potential impacts from the “extremely dangerous hurricane,” moving west in the Caribbean at 14 mph. At 11:00 a.m. Irma was 225 miles east of Antigua and 230 miles east-southeast of Barbuda in
the Lesser Antilles. Throughout the Caribbean and Florida, officials declared emergencies and encouraged residents to prepare for possible impacts from a potentially deadly storm. “Irma is an extremely impressive hurricane in both infrared and visible satellite images,” the National Hurricane Center stated at the 11 a.m. update. The hurricane research aircraft is about to enter the strongest part of the storm. READ MORE
