isobar wrote:I often joke about large things being "the size of Texas". Well Gilbert WAS actually the size of Texas. I should start describing things as "the size of Gilbert".![]()
I think the tightest eye was '35 Labor Day at 8 miles. :o
Actually, Isobar, Gilbert's eye shrank down to only 5-6 miles before beginning an eyewall replacement cycle. (Saw this on a hurricane special when one of the Hurricane Hunters were flying in Gilbert) ... the pressure was adjusted to 888 mb ... but the original pressure extrapolated from the aircraft at its most intense time was 882 mb.
But the Labor Day '35 hurricane was one of the most compact hurricanes ever ... The smallest, though, worldwide, I believe was Cyclone Tracy which struck Darwin, Australia on Christmas Day, 1974. It's entire diameter was only 50 miles wide.
Typhoon Tip on the other hand (which has the lowest sea-level pressure ever recorded on Earth -- 870 mb --- in inches, I believe it was 25.70") and was the largest tropical cyclone of record ... 1100 miles across.
Hurricane Gilbert Satellite Pictures (From NCDC - Saved on my website)
Gilbert Infrared Image
Gilbert Visible Image from Louisiana State University
Gilbert Multispectral Image - Shows the tight eye around an incredible CDO - Central Dense Overcast









