Historic Hurricane Irma has rewritten storm history in the Atlantic Ocean, setting records for its windspeed and its long-lasting Category 5 status.
As the storm continues to travel through the Atlantic, the first to feel the storm's wrath have been tiny Caribbean islands and the northern Leeward Islands.
Many of these locations experienced catastrophic damage. Winds gusted to 161 mph at Saint Maarten on Wednesday morning, with a wind gust up to 155 mph recorded in Barbuda, before the instrument stopped functioning.
SEE ALSO:Hurricane hunters see 'stadium effect' inside Irma's eyeOne of the remarkable scenes that played out on Wednesday has been the wide, nearly calm eye of the storm engulfing these comparatively tiny islands, as if swallowing them whole.
Satellite images showed this happened in Barbuda, which was unlucky enough to take a direct hit from the monster storm.
Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
In addition, the same thing happened in Antigua and St. Martin, which were both inside the eye at the same time.
The storm's eye has been remarkably clear, with a so-called "stadium effect" of clouds surrounding it, containing the storm's fiercest winds. This ring of storms, known as the eye wall, is what brought Category 5 hurricane-force winds to these islands.
Tweet may have been deleted
The storm has set records as the 2nd-most intense Atlantic hurricane in history, the storm with the longest duration of 180-mile per hour winds or greater in the Atlantic, and the strongest storm to ever hit the Leeward Islands.
According to the Washington Post'sCapital Weather Gang, it's also the most intense Atlantic storm to strike land since the Florida Keys hurricane of 1935.
(责任编辑：知識)
Major earthquake and multiple aftershocks rock central Italy
Headphones designed to save your life from reckless drivers
2019 was the year tech workers organized
A sex therapist weighs in on 'The Bachelor' having sex in a windmill 4 timesPlayStation Now game streaming is coming to PCCat gets stuck in the most awkward position ever
Anyone with a cat can tell you that although their cat's claws are impressive scratching and hunting
...[详细]14 ways to greet someone that don't involve shaking hands
Hey, have you heard? Germs are everywhere!More than 90,000 cases of the highly contagious new corona
...[详细]Billie Eilish looking confused AF at the Oscars is a real meme mood
Billie Eilish may be a singer, but if she ever decides to go into acting she already has the "confus
...[详细]'You' Season 2 is still the depraved thriller you fell in love with
"Altruism is dangerous," drawls Joe (Penn Badgley) in his reprised voiceover for YouSeason 2. That m
...[详细]Nancy Pelosi warns colleagues after info hacked
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warned fellow Democrats on Saturday to change their cellphone num
...[详细]These are the Babu Frik tweets you're looking for
HEY-HEEEEYYYYY. All aboard the Babu Frik hype train. People have officially fallen in love with the
...[详细]Early adopters: The couples who met online in the '90s and got married
In our Love App-tually series, Mashable shines a light into the foggy world of online dating. It is
...[详细]Breaking Bad's Hank is joining Better Call Saul's final season
Better Call Saul has been renewed for a sixth and final season, and will include a little treat for
...[详细]Pokémon Go is so big that it has its own VR porn parody now
Behind every great entertainment property there's a cheekily named porn parody. Super Hornio Bros. G
...[详细]I'm obsessed with 'The Circle' and its ridiculous voice assistant
By now, you've probably heard of The Circle—the reality show where people, isolated in their a
...[详细]Olympics official on Rio's green diving pool: 'Chemistry is not an exact science'
2019 was the year of clowning for love
