Hurricane reconnaissance found surface winds of at least 160mph in Hurricane Dean this evening prompting the National Hurricane Center to move Dean to the highest class on the Saffir-Simpson Scale…category 5. The hurricane continues to have an impressive central dense overcast as the eastern-edge feeder bands begin to move inland over the Yucatan Peninsula.
Hurricane Dean as a category five hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale - Courtesy of NOAA
SSMI Imagery of Hurricane Dean also shows the system has a very tightly-closed eye as verified by reconnaissance. The eye was measured at 16 miles wide. Barometric pressure inside the eye was down to 914mb, the lowest ever recorded in this hurricane.
Hurricane Dean has a tightly closed 16 mile-wide eye as confirmed by SSMI Imagery - Courtesy of NRL Monterrey
Hurricane Dean is expected to make landfall tonight near the Mexican city of Chetumal. Dean is forecast to weaken to a minimal hurricane as it reemerges in the Bay of Campeche tomorrow morning. The National Hurricane Center is forecasting to slowly regain intensity to a strong Category 2, if not a Category 3 hurricane prior to its second landfall about 100 miles south of Tampico, Mexico. It should be noted that while it has been done before, it is extremely rare for a hurricane to regain major intensity (115+ mph winds) after taking this kind of path. Hurricane Dean will likely lose quite a bit of organization during its track and could quite possibly, at best, never make it back to Category 2 status.
