Inside A Category 5 Hurricane With Jim Cantore
It has become a running joke whenever severe weather is in the news. If you see Jim Cantore in your city, evacuate immediately! The Weather Channel reporter is famous for always being at the center of America’s worst meteorological events, especially hurricanes. Naturally, he spent the weekend in Miami and Fort Myers as Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida.
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Jonathan Saruk/The Weather Channel via Getty Images
While Irma did reach the dreaded Category 5 classification, with wind speed exceeding 157 miles per hour, storms of that strength are somewhat rare on the mainland United States. Harvey was a Category 4 when it slammed southeast Texas last month. The devastating Katrina was actually a Category 3 as it struck Louisiana in 2005. Clearly, it would be foolish to stand outside during a Category 5 hurricane because you would be blown away. But it can be done in a controlled environment such as a wind tunnel.
In 2013, Jim Cantore strapped himself into the Stability Wind Tunnel at Virginia Tech University’s College of Engineering. Cantore wanted to experience increasing wind speeds from Tropical Storm strength (39-73mph) all the way up to Category 5 Hurricane (157 mph+). He also wanted to break the record of 133 mph set by fellow Weather Channel storm chaser Mike Bettes in 2009. Here’s what it looked like: