when did hurricane irma become a category 5
Hurricane Irma Irma developed from a tropical wave near Cape Verde on August 30. Favorable conditions allowed Irma to rapidly intensify into a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson wind scale by late on August 31. However, the storm's intensity fluctuated between Categories 2 and 3 for the next several days, due to a series of eyewall replacement cycles. On September 4, Irma resumed intensifying, becoming a Category 5 hurricane by early on the next day. On September 6, Irma peaked with 185 mph (295 km/h) winds and a minimum pressure of 914 hPa (27.0 inHg), making it the second most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2017, behind only Hurricane Maria, and the strongest worldwide in 2017 in terms of wind speed. Another eyewall replacement cycle caused Irma to weaken back to a Category 4 hurricane, but the storm re-attained Category 5 status before making landfall in Cuba. Although land interaction weakened Irma to a Category 3 storm, the system re-intensified to Category 4 status as it crossed the warm waters of the Straits of Florida, before making landfall on Cudjoe Key with winds at 130 mph (215 km/h) on September 10. Irma weakened to Category 3 status, prior to another landfall in Florida on Marco Island later that day. Irma fell to Category 2 intensity shortly thereafter, after being a major hurricane for over a week. The tropical cyclone became extratropical over Mississippi on September 12, though the remnant circulation persisted until it was absorbed by Hurricane Jose offshore of New England on September 16.