Ioke's record run continues

Hurricane Ioke has become Super Typhoon Ioke this morning, and is still a huge and impressive storm with 160 mph winds. Actually, Ioke's officially defined sustained winds are now 120 mph, but that's only because Ioke has entered Japan's monitoring area, and the Japan Meteorological Agency uses a 10-minute average to define sustained winds, while the U.S. uses a 1-minute average. Currently the 1-minute average of Ioke's strongest winds is estimated at 160 mph, while that averages to 120 mph over a 10-minute span. Ioke has now been at Category 4 or stronger for 60 hours, and Category 5 for 24 hours. The forecast calls for Ioke to maintain Category 5 strength for the next 5 days. If so, Ioke will break the previous record of Super Typhoon Nancy of 1961, which maintained Category 5 strength for 132 hours.