98 Fun Facts About Hurricanes

What is the primary energy source for hurricanes?

A hurricane is a giant heat engine: warm water evaporates, rises, condenses into cloud and rain, and releases latent heat that drives the storm.

Which five-category scale rates hurricanes by sustained wind speed?

Saffir-Simpson scale categories run 1 to 5 on sustained wind alone, each a rough guide to the damage a storm can do.

In which ocean basin does a hurricane-strength storm go by the name typhoon?

Northwest Pacific storms are typhoons; the same storm is a hurricane in the Atlantic and northeast Pacific, and simply a tropical cyclone in the Indian Ocean.

What is the calmest part of a hurricane?

The eye is typically 30 to 65 kilometres across, with light winds, sinking air and the lowest pressure anywhere in the storm.

What rise in sea level, pushed ashore by a cyclone, has caused 90% of cyclone deaths?

Storm surge's record is 13 metres, produced by Cyclone Mahina at Bathurst Bay in Queensland in March 1899.

What minimum sustained wind speed does a storm need to be rated Category 5?

Category 5 begins at sustained winds of 157 mph (137 knots), the top of the Saffir-Simpson scale; the 2012 revision moved the threshold up from 156 mph to fix a rounding mismatch with knots.

What minimum sustained wind speed makes a tropical cyclone a hurricane?

A tropical cyclone becomes a hurricane at sustained winds of 74 mph (64 knots), measured 10 metres above the surface; below that it is a tropical storm or a depression.

In the Northern Hemisphere, which way do a hurricane's surface winds circulate?

Northern Hemisphere hurricanes spin counterclockwise because the Coriolis effect deflects inflowing air to the right; Southern Hemisphere cyclones spin clockwise for the same reason.

On what date does the Atlantic hurricane season officially close?

The Atlantic hurricane season officially closes on 30 November; storms occasionally form outside the window, such as Hurricane Alex, which became a hurricane in January 2016.

What ring of towering thunderstorms around a cyclone's eye carries its worst weather?

The eyewall's worst weather and highest winds sit right next to the light winds and clear skies of the eye.

Which 2015 hurricane set the tropical-cyclone record for sustained winds at 215 mph?

Hurricane Patricia's 215 mph made it the most intense cyclone ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.

Roughly what sea surface temperature is generally required for a tropical cyclone to develop?

Tropical cyclones generally need sea surface temperatures of about 27 °C (81 °F), usually quoted as 26.5 °C, through a layer at least 50 metres deep to supply enough heat and moisture.

On average, how many tropical cyclones of at least tropical-storm strength form worldwide each year?

About 86 tropical cyclones reach tropical-storm strength worldwide in an average year; roughly 47 of them reach hurricane strength and about 20 become major storms of Category 3 or higher.

When Hurricane Genevieve crossed the International Dateline westward in 2014, what did it become?

Genevieve became Typhoon Genevieve on crossing 180° into the Western Pacific basin, handed from US forecasters in Honolulu to that basin's own warning centre; the storm itself did not change, only its label.

Which Queensland meteorologist first gave storms personal names, between 1887 and 1907?

Clement Wragge, Queensland's government meteorologist, named storms from 1887 to 1907, famously after politicians he disliked; systematic naming only returned with US military forecasters during World War II.

The rotating Atlantic hurricane name lists skip which letters?

The Atlantic lists skip Q, U, X, Y and Z because too few common names start with them, leaving 21 names per list; since 2021 overflow storms take names from a supplemental list instead of Greek letters.

How many rotating name lists does the WMO Hurricane Committee keep for the Atlantic?

Six lists of 21 names each, coming back around every six years unless a name is retired.

In which country did Cyclone Idai make landfall in March 2019?

Cyclone Idai made landfall near Beira, Mozambique, on 15 March 2019 with winds near 105 mph, killing more than 600 people in Mozambique alone and over 1,300 across southern Africa.

Cyclone Hyacinthe dropped a record 6,083 mm of rain over 15 days in January 1980 on which island?

Hyacinthe stalled over Réunion, where the Commerson crater gauge collected 6,083 mm (about 240 inches) across 15 days in January 1980, setting the world record for rainfall from a single tropical cyclone.

The deadliest tropical cyclone on record killed 300,000-plus in 1970 in which present-day country?

Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, lost an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people when the Bhola cyclone's surge swept the Ganges delta on 12-13 November 1970; the slow relief response fed the 1971 independence war.

Hagibis in October 2019 became the costliest typhoon on record for which country?

Hagibis hit Honshu on 12 October 2019 with record rainfall, causing about $17 billion in damage, Japan's costliest typhoon, and forced the cancellation of three Rugby World Cup pool matches.

Hurricane Harvey set the US rainfall record of 60.58 inches in 2017 in which state?

Texas took Harvey's 60.58 inches at Nederland, near Port Arthur, the most rain measured from one tropical cyclone in US history, as the storm stalled over the Houston area for days in August 2017.

In March 2004, Hurricane Catarina, the first hurricane on record in the South Atlantic, struck which country?

Catarina came ashore in Brazil's Santa Catarina state on 28 March 2004 with Category 2 winds; the South Atlantic has no official WMO naming body because such storms are so rare.

Which 2005 Atlantic storm made landfall in Spain as a tropical depression?

Vince made landfall near Huelva, Spain, on 11 October 2005 as a tropical depression, the first tropical cyclone recorded striking the Iberian Peninsula; two days earlier it had briefly been a hurricane near Madeira.

Hurricane Ivan in 2004 spawned about how many tornadoes across the eastern United States?

Ivan spawned about 120 tornadoes over the eastern United States in September 2004, a record for one tropical cyclone at the time; landfalling storms spin up twisters in their outer rainbands.

Which 2008 storm set the record for the smallest tropical cyclone, only 37 km across?

Tropical Storm Marco formed in the Bay of Campeche in October 2008 with tropical-storm-force winds reaching only 19 km from its centre, a 37 km span; Typhoon Tip's 1979 gale field reached about 2,200 km.

'Rapid intensification' means a cyclone's maximum sustained winds rise by at least how much in 24 hours?

Rapid intensification is a rise of at least 35 mph (30 knots) in maximum sustained winds within 24 hours; Wilma in October 2005 went from tropical storm to Category 5 in about a day.

Katrina's 1,392 deaths made it the deadliest US hurricane since which 1928 disaster?

Most of Katrina's deaths came from flooding after the federally built levees around New Orleans failed.

Katrina jumped from Category 3 to 5 in nine hours over the warm waters of which Gulf of Mexico feature?

The Loop Current carries deep warm Caribbean water into the Gulf, and Katrina crossed it to peak at 175 mph with a 902 mbar central pressure on 28 August 2005.

Along with Andrew, Michael and the 1935 Labor Day storm, which hurricane hit the continental US at Category 5?

Camille struck the Mississippi coast on 17 August 1969 with winds estimated near 175 mph and a storm surge of more than 24 feet, a Category 5 landfall.

Andrew was Florida's costliest hurricane for 25 years until which 2017 storm surpassed it?

Irma raked the whole Florida peninsula in September 2017 and ran up about $50 billion in damage there, passing Andrew's 1992 bill; Andrew had stripped Homestead houses to their concrete slabs.

Hurricane Wilma's central pressure bottomed out at what record-low value in October 2005?

Wilma bottomed out at 882 millibars on 19 October 2005 after deepening roughly 97 millibars in 24 hours, one of the fastest pressure falls ever measured in the Atlantic.

Wilma broke the Atlantic low-pressure record previously held by which 1988 hurricane?

Gilbert's 888 mbar had stood for 17 years.

Hurricane Sandy came ashore near Brigantine in which state in October 2012?

New Jersey's Brigantine, just northeast of Atlantic City, took the landfall; Sandy's tropical-storm-force winds spanned 1,150 miles and it affected 24 states.

The deadliest natural disaster in US history was a 1900 hurricane that struck which Texas city?

Galveston lost an estimated 8,000 people on 8 September 1900; the city then raised its grade by up to 17 feet and built a seawall that eventually ran about 10 miles.

In what year did a pilot-trainer make the first crewed flight into a hurricane, reportedly on a bet?

Colonel Joseph Duckworth flew an AT-6 trainer into a hurricane near Galveston on 27 July 1943 after British trainees mocked the aircraft; the 'hurricane hunters' name followed in 1946.

The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flies which aircraft directly into hurricanes?

The 53rd flies the Lockheed WC-130J Super Hercules from Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, crossing a storm's eye several times per mission at altitudes from about 500 to 10,000 feet.

Herbert Saffir, who co-created the hurricane category system in 1971, was what by profession?

He had been commissioned by the UN to study low-cost housing in hurricane-prone areas and realized no simple damage scale existed.

The climatological peak of the Atlantic hurricane season falls on which date?

Atlantic activity peaks around September 10, when sea-surface temperatures are near their annual high and wind shear over the tropical Atlantic is at its weakest.

How many named storms did the record-setting 2020 Atlantic hurricane season produce?

The 2020 season produced 30 named storms, beating 2005's 28; after the 21-name list ran out, nine storms took Greek letters, the last of them forming in mid-November.

A 2013 study said which moon's hydrocarbon polar seas might power tropical cyclones?

Titan is the only other world in the Solar System with large bodies of surface liquid, in a methane cycle that mimics Earth's water cycle.

Seen from space, extratropical cyclones have a characteristic cloud pattern shaped like what?

Extratropical cyclones show a comma-shaped cloud pattern, the tail tracing the cold front; they draw energy from temperature contrasts between air masses rather than from warm water.

What does the Fujiwhara effect describe?

The Fujiwhara effect is two cyclones interacting with each other, orbiting a common point when they pass within roughly 1,400 km; the weaker storm is often absorbed or torn apart.

The 'brown ocean effect' allows a tropical cyclone to do what?

The brown ocean effect lets a cyclone keep strength after landfall over wet soil, as evaporation from saturated ground supplies latent heat; Tropical Storm Erin strengthened over Oklahoma this way in 2007.

How many named storms does an average Atlantic hurricane season produce?

The 1991-2020 average is 14 named storms per Atlantic season, of which seven become hurricanes and three reach major strength; 2005 set the record with 15 hurricanes.

In 2021 the WMO suggested the NHC assess moving the Atlantic season's start to which date?

Named storms before June 1 in six straight seasons (2015-2020) prompted the review, and from 2021 the NHC moved its routine Tropical Weather Outlooks to a May 15 start while keeping June 1 as the opening date.

Which is the only month in which every tropical cyclone basin in the world is in season?

November is the only month when every basin, including the Southern Hemisphere's, is officially in season; worldwide, May is the quietest month and September the busiest.

The HURDAT storm database was first assembled in the 1960s to support which effort?

HURDAT was built in the 1960s for the Apollo space program, which needed statistical hurricane-track guidance to protect launches and splashdowns; it lists six-hourly positions and intensities for Atlantic storms back to 1851.

Which schooner was lost with all hands in the Caribbean during Hurricane Mitch in 1998?

The Fantome, a Windjammer Barefoot Cruises schooner, tried to outrun Mitch off Honduras and vanished with all 31 crew in 50-foot seas; Jim Carrier's The Ship and the Storm tells the story.

Mitch's rains collapsed the flank of which volcano, sending a lahar over several villages?

Casita volcano in northwest Nicaragua gave way on 30 October 1998, and the lahar, about 10 miles long and 5 miles wide, buried El Porvenir and Rolando Rodriguez, killing more than 2,000 people.

Mitch was retired after 1998; which name took its slot on the Atlantic list in 2004?

Matthew took Mitch's place in 2004, then was itself retired after killing hundreds in Haiti in 2016 and gave way to Martin on the 2022 list.

Katrina's main Gulf Coast landfall on 29 August 2005 came near which Louisiana community?

Katrina crossed the coast at Buras-Triumph in Plaquemines Parish at 6:10 am CDT as a Category 3 with 125 mph winds, then made a final landfall near the mouth of the Pearl River.

Maria's 2017 Puerto Rico landfall, the island's worst since 1928, came near which town?

Maria came ashore at Yabucoa on Puerto Rico's southeast coast on 20 September 2017 with 155 mph winds, triggering the largest blackout in US history, which lasted months in some areas.

Hurricane Ian made its Florida landfall in September 2022 on which barrier island?

Ian struck Cayo Costa, a barrier island off Fort Myers, on 28 September 2022 with 150 mph winds, a day after crossing western Cuba as a Category 3.

Dorian stalled for about a day in 2019 over which Bahamian island?

Dorian sat over Grand Bahama from 2 September 2019 with no steering currents, battering Freeport with Category 5 and then Category 4 winds for more than 24 hours.

Hugo's final landfall in September 1989 came ashore where in South Carolina?

Hugo crossed Sullivan's Island just north of Charleston at 0400 UTC on 22 September 1989 as a Category 4 with 140 mph winds, after earlier strikes on Guadeloupe, St Croix and Puerto Rico.

A 24.6-foot wall of seawater in 1969, then a US record, was measured in which Mississippi town?

Camille's 24.6-foot surge was measured at Pass Christian in August 1969, a US record until Katrina pushed 27.8 feet onto the same coast in 2005.

The Great Hurricane of 1780, the Western Hemisphere's deadliest, first hit which island?

Barbados took the first blow on 10 October 1780; the storm then raked Saint Lucia, Martinique and Sint Eustatius, killing some 22,000 people and wrecking British and French fleets during the American Revolutionary War.

Most of Hurricane Hazel's 81 Canadian deaths in 1954 occurred in which city?

Toronto was still being hit by a Category 1-strength storm after 1,100 km over land; 800 soldiers were called in for the cleanup.

Iniki, Hawaii's strongest hurricane of the 20th century, struck which island in September 1992?

Iniki crossed Kauai on 11 September 1992 as a Category 4 with 145 mph winds and a 938 mb pressure, then the lowest observed in the Central Pacific; parts of the island lacked power for months.

Which filmmaker rode out Iniki in a Hawaii hotel with 130 cast and crew in 1992?

Steven Spielberg's footage of Iniki battering the coast ended up in the finished film, where a tropical storm drives the plot.

Helene's 140 mph landfall in September 2024 came in Florida's Big Bend, near which city?

Helene crossed the coast about 10 miles southwest of Perry in Taylor County late on 26 September 2024 as a Category 4, the strongest hurricane recorded striking the Big Bend and the deadliest on the US mainland since Katrina.

Helene's landslides collapsed sections of I-26 and I-40 around which North Carolina city?

Asheville was cut off when Helene's floods and landslides collapsed stretches of I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge and I-26 near the Tennessee line in September 2024; the city went weeks without drinking water.

Hurricane Milton came ashore in October 2024 near which key on Florida's Gulf coast?

Siesta Key's landfall, south of Tampa, spared the bay a worst-case surge; water was actually pushed out in a reverse surge.

Before Beryl in 2024, which 2005 storm was the only other Atlantic Category 5 in July?

Emily reached Category 5 on 16 July 2005 south of Jamaica, the only July Category 5 until Beryl reached the same strength on 2 July 2024, setting a new earliest-in-season mark.

Beryl's first landfall, on 1 July 2024, was on Carriacou, an island of which country?

Carriacou is part of Grenada, and Beryl's Category 4 landfall on 1 July 2024 damaged or destroyed nearly every building there; Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said the island was flattened in half an hour.

Otis became the first Pacific hurricane to land at Category 5 in 2023, near which city?

Otis slammed Acapulco on 25 October 2023 with 165 mph winds after exploding from tropical storm to Category 5 in about 12 hours; it became Mexico's costliest tropical cyclone and cut communications for hours.

Ida's final landfall in August 2021, with 150 mph winds, came near which Louisiana town?

Ida came ashore at Port Fourchon on 29 August 2021, sixteen years to the day after Katrina; its 150 mph winds tied the 1856 Last Island hurricane and 2020's Laura for Louisiana's strongest recorded landfall.

Which 1999 hurricane was nicknamed 'Wrong Way' for tracking west to east in the Caribbean?

Lenny earned the nickname 'Wrong Way Lenny' by tracking west to east across the Caribbean in November 1999, the reverse of the usual path, and reached Category 4 with 155 mph winds near St Croix.

The cargo ship El Faro and its 33 crew were lost in the Bahamas in 2015 to which storm?

Joaquin, a Category 3 at the time, sank El Faro on 1 October 2015 after the ship lost propulsion near Crooked Island; all 33 crew died, the worst US merchant-marine loss in decades.

Ex-hurricane Ophelia made landfall in which country on 16 October 2017?

Ophelia, by then post-tropical, came ashore in Ireland on 16 October 2017 with gusts to 119 mph at Fastnet Rock; all three direct deaths were in Ireland, which issued its first nationwide red warning.

Hurricane Michael's Category 5 landfall in October 2018 came near which Florida Panhandle town?

Mexico Beach took Michael's 160 mph winds and 919 mb pressure on 10 October 2018, the first Category 5 to strike the contiguous US since Andrew in 1992.

Which late-2020 hurricane hit Central America just two weeks after Hurricane Eta?

Iota struck Nicaragua's coast near Haulover on 16 November 2020 as a Category 4, about 15 miles from where Eta had hit two weeks earlier; it was the 30th named storm of the record season.

Agnes in 1972 sent which river over its banks, wrecking the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area?

The Susquehanna crested at 40.9 feet at Wilkes-Barre on 24 June 1972, topping the levees and flooding the Wyoming Valley; Agnes was then the costliest US hurricane at $2.1 billion.

Hattie's 1961 wrecking of Belize City led the government to build which new capital?

Belmopan, built about 50 miles inland from 1967 and occupied from 1970, replaced Belize City as capital after Hattie's surge swamped the sea-level city in October 1961.

Flora in 1963 drifted for four days over which island, becoming its wettest known cyclone?

Flora looped over eastern Cuba from 4 to 8 October 1963, dropping more than 100 inches of rain at Santiago de Cuba and killing about 1,750 Cubans; its basin-wide toll near 7,000 was the most since 1900.

Allen in 1980 set the Atlantic sustained-wind record at what speed?

Allen peaked at 190 mph (165 knots) on 7 August 1980, setting the Atlantic basin's sustained-wind record; it reached Category 5 three separate times as it crossed the Caribbean.

Betsy in 1965 was the first Atlantic tropical cyclone to cause at least how much damage?

Betsy ran up about $1.4 billion in 1965 damage, earning the nickname 'Billion-Dollar Betsy'; its surge pushed into Lake Pontchartrain, breached New Orleans levees and flooded the Lower Ninth Ward.

Juan in 2003 was called the worst storm since 1893 for which Canadian city?

Juan struck Halifax on 29 September 2003 as a Category 2, killing eight and felling much of Point Pleasant Park; Canada asked for the name to be retired, a rarity for a storm whose main impact was Canadian.

Fifi in 1974 killed more than 8,000 people, mostly in which country?

Honduras bore most of Fifi's toll in September 1974, when days of rain collapsed hillsides and swept away Choloma and other towns; the remnants crossed into the Pacific and became Hurricane Orlene.

Isabel's 2003 floodwaters carved a new inlet through which part of the Outer Banks?

Isabel's surge cut 'Isabel Inlet' through Hatteras Island between Frisco and Hatteras village on 18 September 2003, isolating the village until the breach was filled; the Category 2 landfall damaged thousands of homes.

Charley's 150 mph winds in 2004 devastated which city on Florida's Charlotte Harbor?

Punta Gorda took Charley's 150 mph core on 13 August 2004 after the compact storm crossed Charlotte Harbor; it then tore up the Peace River corridor through Port Charlotte, Arcadia and Wauchula.

A stretch of Florida Panhandle beach is named for which 1995 hurricane that hit it?

Opal Beach in the Gulf Islands National Seashore, between Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach, takes its name from Opal, which came ashore there on 4 October 1995 after abruptly weakening from Category 4 to 3.

Hurricane Bob in 1991 came ashore twice, the second time at Newport, in which New England state?

Rhode Island got Bob as a Category 2 with 100 mph winds, first on Block Island then at Newport; it was New England's costliest hurricane at the time.

Which 1960 hurricane brought hurricane-force winds to Florida, the Mid-Atlantic and New England?

Donna crossed the Florida Keys on 10 September 1960, then struck North Carolina and Long Island, bringing hurricane-force winds to Florida, the Mid-Atlantic and New England on one track; damage ran from the Lesser Antilles to New England.

Audrey in 1957 killed at least 416 Americans, most of them in which Louisiana parish?

Cameron Parish took Audrey's 12-foot surge on 27 June 1957, when the storm sped ashore overnight earlier than forecast and drowned hundreds in the town of Cameron; many bodies were found in the marshes.

The 1935 Labor Day hurricane's record 892 mb landfall came near which Florida Key?

The 892 mb reading came from a barometer at Long Key as the storm crossed the upper Keys on 2 September 1935; its 18-to-20-foot surge obliterated Islamorada and killed over 400, many of them veterans building the Overseas Highway.

Whose 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God depicts the 1928 Florida hurricane?

Zora Neale Hurston set the novel's climax in the 1928 storm, when wind drove Lake Okeechobee over its small southern dike and drowned the farm communities below.

Which then-obscure newsman reported live from a weather bureau during Hurricane Carla?

Dan Rather, then at Houston's KHOU, broadcast from the Galveston Weather Bureau office during Carla in September 1961, laying a transparent map over the radar to show a storm the size of the Gulf; CBS hired him soon after.

Which dive boat carrying a Richmond, Virginia club was capsized by Hurricane Iris in 2001?

Wave Dancer had 28 aboard, 20 from the Richmond Dive Club; the tiny storm had an eye just 7 miles across and hit southern Belize with 145 mph winds.

Hurricane Fabian made a direct hit in 2003 on which Atlantic island, its strongest storm since 1963?

Bermuda took winds over 120 mph on September 5, 2003, in one of the most damaging storms ever recorded there.

Which French ship capsized in Lorenzo's seas in September 2019, losing most of its crew?

The tug Bourbon Rhode sank in Lorenzo's seas on 26 September 2019 in the central Atlantic; only three of its 14 crew were rescued, and Lorenzo went on to become the easternmost Atlantic Category 5 recorded.

Felix's Category 5 landfall in September 2007 hit the Mosquito Coast of which country?

Felix came ashore on Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast just south of the Honduras border on 4 September 2007 with 160 mph winds, killing at least 130 people, many of them Miskito fishermen at sea; the name was retired.

What nickname did the 1938 New England hurricane earn for its speed up the coast?

Long Island Express: the storm raced north at about 60 mph, crossing Long Island and Connecticut on 21 September 1938; Blue Hill Observatory near Boston clocked a 186 mph gust.

Fiona made landfall in which province in September 2022 with a Canadian-record 931 mb pressure?

Fiona came ashore in Nova Scotia near Whitehead in Guysborough County on 24 September 2022 with a 931 mb pressure, the lowest measured in Canada, after passing Bermuda as a Category 3.

Hilary in 2023 prompted the NHC's first-ever tropical storm warning for which US region?

Southern California got the NHC's first tropical storm warning on 18 August 2023, covering the coast from the Mexican border to Point Mugu; Hilary made landfall at San Quintin in Baja California on 20 August.

Hurricane Jeanne's floods in September 2004 killed 3,006 people in which Caribbean country?

Haiti was hit even though the storm had weakened over Hispaniola; its torrential rain caused deadly floods and landslides.

Which 2025 hurricane matched Dorian and the 1935 Labor Day storm with a 185 mph landfall?

Melissa struck Jamaica's southwest coast on 28 October 2025 with 185 mph winds, the first Category 5 landfall recorded in Jamaica, matching Dorian's 2019 Bahamas landfall and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane's 185 mph.