Hurricane Mitch increased in intensity this afternoon at 5pm to 180 mph sustained 1-minute winds. Gusts are well over 200mph at this time. This is a "strong Category 5" - the categories stop with 5 being "155 and up." From what I know (please correct me if wrong), these are the comparisons: Strongest Hurricane Ever in Atlantic - Gilbert/185mph Strongest Hurricane Ever on Earth - Tip/190mph Hurricane Andrew At Landfall - 135mph Additional comparisons will be put on the CASI Mitch Pages later this evening. If you have pertinent information on this subject please let me know and I'll give you credit on the site. Please do check back to the website later this evening and I will have additional information about this historical storm. http://www.weatherwatchers.org/tropical/1998/13 -- ============================================================== Jesse Ferrell - Meteorologist/Web Dev. - j{at}weatherwatchers.org Central Atlantic Storm Investigators - www.weatherwatchers.org "They're not who we're looking for; they're just meteorologists- storm chasers." --Peter Watts, "Millennium" || ICQ No. 136832 ||