Mainland US has been hit by four Category 5 hurricanes all-time

As Hurricane Ian approached the western Florida coast on Sept. 28, it peaked in depth with 155 mph winds, simply 2 mph in need of reaching Category 5 standing. It ultimately made landfall with wind speeds of 150 mph.

Before it made landfall, some meteorologists on social media believed Ian had the prospect to strengthen right into a Category 5 by surpassing wind speeds of 157 mph. 

Had Ian reached that power on the time of landfall, it will have turn into solely the fifth Category 5 ever to make landfall on the mainland U.S. Some folks argued that there needed to be greater than four Category 5 hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. and asked about other devastating hurricanes excluded from the checklist.

Have solely four Category 5 hurricanes ever made landfall within the mainland U.S.?

Yes, solely four Category 5 hurricanes have ever made landfall within the mainland U.S. 

Only four Category 5 hurricanes have ever made landfall within the mainland U.S., in keeping with information from the Hurricane Research Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Weather Channel and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Those four are the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Camille in 1969, Andrew in 1992 and Michael in 2018.

Hurricanes are measured by their sustained floor wind speeds on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. This scale doesn’t account for different hurricane hazards reminiscent of storm surge and rain. A hurricane’s “sustained wind speed” is the typical of a hurricane’s strongest winds over a 1-minute interval, the American Meteorological Society says.

NOAA says {that a} Category 1 hurricane has wind speeds between 74-95 mph, Category 2 hurricanes have wind speeds between 96–110 mph, Category 3 hurricanes have winds between 111–129 mph, Category 4 hurricanes have winds measuring between 130–156 mph and Category 5 hurricane winds blow at a power of 157 mph or better.

Neither Andrew nor Michael had been initially thought of Category 5 hurricanes at landfall. Andrew was thought of a Category 4 at landfall for 12 years earlier than NOAA scientists reclassified it as a Category 5 storm at landfall in Nov. 2004 due to enhancements in floor wind velocity estimations. A NOAA post-storm analysis in April 2019 equally bumped Michael’s wind speeds at landfall up from Category 4 power to Category 5 power due to information not accessible in actual time.

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The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane first made landfall within the Florida Keys with an estimated 185 mph wind velocity and an air strain of 892 mb. Both of these numbers are essentially the most intense for any hurricane on the time of landfall within the mainland U.S. It remained inside 50 miles of the Florida Gulf Coast till it made its second and last landfall within the state’s Big Bend area as a Category 2 storm.

Hurricane Camille struck the Mississippi coast in 1969 with a sustained wind velocity of 175 mph and an air strain of 900 mb, making it the second strongest hurricane on document to strike the U.S.

Hurricane Andrew made landfall simply south of Miami, Florida, whereas its wind blew at speeds of 165 mph in 1992. The storm continued previous Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico, ultimately making landfall for the ultimate time in Louisiana whereas it was nonetheless a Category 3 hurricane.

Hurricane Michael strengthened right into a Category 5 simply earlier than battering the Florida panhandle with 160 mph winds in 2018. The WMO says it was the fourth strongest hurricane to ever make landfall within the U.S. 

Yale Climate Connections says this yr’s Hurricane Ian was the fifth-strongest hurricane to make landfall within the U.S. after it hit Florida with Category 4, 150 mph winds.

Outside of the mainland U.S., American territories within the Caribbean have additionally weathered the impacts of Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes.

An unnamed hurricane in 1928 made landfall in Puerto Rico at Category 5 power. Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands with Category 5 winds in 2017, though neither made direct landfall on any of the islands. Maria weakened to a Category 4 earlier than making landfall in Puerto Rico.

Many folks at present keep in mind Hurricane Katrina as a very devastating storm, however it wasn’t a Category 5 when it hit Louisiana. In the final 18 hours earlier than landfall close to New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina weakened from a Category 5 hurricane with wind speeds of about 173 mph to a Category 3 hurricane with wind speeds of about 127 mph, NOAA says.

In whole, NOAA says solely 37 recorded Atlantic hurricanes since 1924 have reached Category 5 wind speeds at a while of their lifetime. All however considered one of these storms, Lorenzo in 2019, made landfall, however solely four maintained Category 5 winds as they got here ashore within the mainland U.S.