Watch as Hurricane Irma moves toward the Leeward Islands in this geocolor imagery captured by GOES-16 on September 5, 2017.
As of 11:00 am (eastern), NOAA's National Hurricane Center reported that Irma was about 225 miles east of Antigua and moving toward the west near 14 miles per hour. According to NHC forecasters, the "extremely dangerous" core of Irma is forecast to move over portions of the northern Leeward Islands tonight and early Wednesday (9/16).
Reports from an Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that the maximum sustained winds are near 180 mph (285 km/h) with higher gusts. Irma is a an extremely dangerous category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Irma is forecast to remain a powerful category 4 or 5 hurricane during the next couple of days.
Created by our partners at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, the experimental geocolor imagery enhancement shown here displays geostationary satellite data in different ways depending on whether it is day or night. In daytime imagery (shown here), land and shallow-water features appear as they do in true-color imagery.
For the latest information on Hurricane Irma and the other storms the National Hurricane Center is keeping an eye on, visit the center's website at www.nhc.noaa.gov.
