Speaking of cat 5, I looked at the latest recon and it would seem that if one adjusts the flight level wind you would get a 156+ figure for surface winds.. The temp differential is larger than Kat's when it peaked, I believe. So I would guess this thing is cat 5 as we speak. As for maintaining that strength--history is against is making landfall with that sort of intensity, but there are UNUSUAL conditions this year so all bets are off. btw a question: has there every been such a short gap between storms that have reached cat 5?