Sandy made landfall near Kingston at 3:00 p.m EDT (1900 UTC) on October 24. It had winds of about . Before making its second landfall, Sandy got stronger and became a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale with 110 mph (175 km/h). At 1:25 am EDT (0525 UTC), Sandy made landfall in Cuba just west of Santiago de Cuba. When it made landfall in Cuba, Sandy had a visible eye of over in diameter. At the time, winds reached 135 mph (216 km/h). While over land, the storm weakened and the eye was no longer visible. After Sandy left Cuba, dry air and increasing shear caused the storm to be disorganized. A mid-level low over Florida turned the hurricane toward the north-northwest. By early on October 26, most of the storm was to the north of the center. This caused the storm to get larger. By the next day, the NHC reported that Sandy was starting to become more of a hybrid cyclone. On October 27, Sandy weakened to a tropical storm. A few hours later, it got stronger and became a Category 1 hurricane again.