Felix and Henriette

Moonrise over the eyewall of Hurricane Felix

Wunder Blog : Weather Underground

A strengthening Hurricane Felix powered ashore as a Category 5 hurricane near the Nicaragua/Honduras border at 8am EDT this morning, bringing 160 mph winds and an 18-foot storm surge to this sparsely populated region. Felix weakened for a period yesterday as it became too tightly would to maintain its eyewall, but a new eyewall formed last night in time for Felix to regain Category 5 strength before landfall. This year marks the first time in recorded history that two Category 5 storms (Felix and Dean) have made landfall in the Atlantic basin in the same year. Since reliable record keeping began in 1944, there have been 27 Category 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic. Eight of these have occurred in the past five years.

It was the first time in recorded history that two Category 5 storms have come ashore during the same season. Just two weeks ago, powerful Hurricane Dean hit Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

Another record: On the Pacific Coast, Hurricane Henriette slammed into the resorts surrounding Cabo San Lucas. It was the first time in recorded history that Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes made landfall on the same day.