7:58 am EDT: “…like a rocket went off.”

When Wilma barreled ashore in Florida on 24 October 2005, iCyclone was there—at “ground zero”—to chase the storm and record the event:

As Wilma first approached, conditions didn’t seem too severe near Naples—so during the calm of the eye, my chase partner, Tony Brite, and I drove further down the coast to get closer to the area of maximum winds.

We arrived in Everglades City just in time: at 7:58 am EDT, as we pulled into downtown, the back side of Wilma’s eyewall swept in with surprising ferocity.

As I said afterward in an interview with Associated Press, “when we got here and got out of the car, it was like a rocket went off”. SEE FULL EXCERPT

Josh Morgerman

Check out iCyclone’s thorough documentation of Wilma’s landfall on Florida’s Gulf coast:

360report: WILMA 2005
Video Sample
Chase Photos
Chase Study
Chase Diary