22 Facts About Hurricane Irma

1. Hurricane Irma was one of the fastest developing Atlantic hurricanes, strengthening from a Category 2 hurricane to a Category 5 in just 24 hours.

2. Hurricane Irma put Hurricane Irma's picture on Facebook, and an explanation of the photo for her northern friends who don't quite get how we do down here.

3. Hurricane Irma continued to intensity while approaching the northern Leeward Islands.

4. Hurricane Irma watches, tropical storm warnings and tropical storm watches are in place in a number of other places including Haiti and the Bahamas.

5. Hurricane Irma has already broken a number of records, from strength to location as the Category 5 hurricane prepares to strike.

6. Hurricane Irma packed maximum winds of 185 miles per hour making it one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.

7. Hurricane Irma officially made landfall on Wednesday as it hit the island of Barbuda in the Leeward Islands.

8. Hurricane Irma is currently pounding the north coast of Cuba and is expected to strengthen as it heads towards Florida.

9. Hurricane Irma is an exceedingly powerful stifling tornado at present distressing the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico and intimidating Cuba and the Southeastern United States.

10. Hurricane Irma made landfall over the southern Florida mainland around 1 pm local time Sunday, Sept 10 as a Category 3 storm, packing winds of more than 110 miles per hour.

11. Hurricane Irma made landfall over mainland Florida early Sept 10 as a Category 4 hurricane.

12. Hurricane Irma downgraded to a Category 4 Sept 8 but maintained winds around 150 mph.

13. Hurricane Irma developed from a tropical wave that developed off the West African coast two days earlier.

14. Hurricane Irma hit Florida as a Category 4 storm the morning of Sept 10, 2017, ripping off roofs, flooding coastal cities, and knocking out power to more than 6.8 million people.

15. Hurricane Irma was the first Category 5 storm of the 2017 hurricane season, though it slowed to a Category 4 as it narrowed in on Florida.

16. At the time, Hurricane Irma was the fourth costliest tropical cyclone in the United States, behind hurricanes Sandy in 2012, Harvey earlier that year, and Katrina in 2005.

17. Hurricane Irma weakened after making landfall in Cuba, but strengthened back into a Category 4 prior to hitting the Keys.

18. Hurricane Irma affected multiple states in the South, especially Florida.

19. Hurricane Irma directly impacted a major colony of American flamingos on Cuba's northern Cayo Coco.

20. Hurricane Irma left widespread destruction and disastrous flooding along its path over the French island of Saint Barthelemy, southeast of Saint Martin.

21. Hurricane Irma was the top Google searched term in the US and globally in 2017.

22. Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and catastrophic Cape Verde hurricane, the strongest observed in the Atlantic in terms of maximum sustained winds since Wilma, and the strongest storm on record to exist in the open Atlantic region.