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50 free Hard Hurricanes trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
These hard hurricanes trivia questions are for people who watch the National Hurricane Center's cone like a sport. They cover the record book (lowest pressure ever measured, fastest sustained winds, largest and smallest eyes, the widest Atlantic storm), the deadliest tropical cyclones in history from the 1780 Great Hurricane and Bhola to Mitch, Nargis and Haiyan, and the US benchmark storms: Galveston 1900, Okeechobee, the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Camille, Andrew, Katrina, Harvey, Maria, Michael, Ian and Helene. There are also questions on the science and the institutions: who invented the Saffir-Simpson scale and why, the definitions of rapid intensification, the Fujiwhara effect, why cyclones avoid the equator, the naming rules and the Greek-alphabet seasons, the Hurricane Hunters and the first weather satellite. The easiest questions here would be the hardest on a general weather quiz. If you want a warm-up, start with our main hurricanes trivia (brainpickle.app/quiz/a/hurricanes); the kids version is at brainpickle.app/quiz/a/hurricanes-for-kids. Every answer has been checked against a reference encyclopaedia, and each question shows its explanation and citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Typhoon Tip's world-record low sea-level pressure, set in October 1979, was what?
870 hPa
Tip was also the largest tropical cyclone ever recorded and was known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Warling.
Q 02Hurricane Wilma's 2005 rapid intensification set an Atlantic record with a 24-hour pressure drop of how much?
97 mbar
Wilma became the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record by pressure and its eye shrank to 2.3 miles across.
Q 03Which storm is the Western Hemisphere's second-most intense by pressure, after Wilma?
Hurricane Patricia
Wilma is the most intense in the Atlantic basin, but Patricia in the eastern Pacific beat it in 2015 and holds the wind record at 215 mph.
Q 04Which two Atlantic hurricanes are the only ones ever to reach sustained winds of 190 mph?
Allen (1980) and Melissa (2025)
Allen's 190 mph was the Western Hemisphere record until Patricia's 215 mph in 2015.
Q 05The 1935 Labor Day hurricane made landfall near Long Key, Florida, with what central pressure?
892 millibars
Its 185 mph landfall winds are tied with Dorian and Melissa as the strongest Atlantic landfall on record.
Q 06Which storm was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record by diameter, spanning 1,150 miles?
Sandy (2012)
Most of its US damage came after it became a Category 1-equivalent extratropical cyclone off the Northeast.
Q 07Which 1970 storm is the deadliest tropical cyclone on record, killing at least 300,000 people?
Bhola
It struck East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, on 12 November 1970 with a storm surge that swamped the Ganges Delta islands.
Q 08Which country lost at least 138,000 people to Cyclone Nargis in May 2008?
Myanmar
It remains the worst natural disaster in the country's recorded history, and the toll may have been under-reported.
Q 09Mitch in 1998 is the second-deadliest Atlantic storm on record, behind which one?
The Great Hurricane of 1780
Mitch killed 11,374 people in Central America; the 1780 storm killed at least 22,000 in the Caribbean.
Q 10Typhoon Haiyan killed at least 6,300 people in 2013 in which region of the Philippines?
Visayas
It was known locally as Super Typhoon Yolanda and is among the most intense tropical cyclones ever recorded.
Q 11The 1900 Galveston hurricane, the deadliest US natural disaster, is credited with how many deaths?
8,000
Estimates range from 6,000 to 12,000, most from a storm surge of 8 to 12 feet across the island city.
Q 12The Okeechobee storm of 1928 ranks as the fourth-deadliest in US history, behind Galveston, Maria and which 1899 storm?
San Ciriaco
The Okeechobee storm remains the deadliest disaster in Florida's history.
Q 13Roughly what percentage of New Orleans was flooded by Hurricane Katrina in 2005?
80%
Katrina killed 1,392 people, the most of any US hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee storm, and caused about $125 billion in damage.
Q 21Hurricane Ian (2022) was the deadliest to hit Florida since which decade?
The 1930s
It was also the strongest Florida landfall since Michael in 2018.
Q 22Hurricane Helene in 2024 was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since which storm?
Maria in 2017
It was the strongest hurricane on record to strike Florida's Big Bend and the deadliest to hit the US mainland since Katrina.
Q 23Hurricane Ida in 2021 became which state's second-most damaging hurricane, after Katrina?
Louisiana
It struck on the 16th anniversary of Katrina's landfall.
Q 14Of Hurricane Maria's 3,059 deaths in 2017, how many were in Puerto Rico?
2,975
It was the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide that year and the deadliest ever to hit Dominica.
Q 15Hurricane Andrew was Florida's costliest hurricane until which storm surpassed it 25 years later?
Irma
Andrew regained Category 5 strength before landfall at Elliott Key and Homestead in August 1992.
Q 16Hurricane Harvey ended a record drought of how many years without a major hurricane landfall in the US?
12
The last had been Wilma in 2005; Harvey tied Katrina as the costliest storm on record.
Q 17Camille in 1969 was one of how many Atlantic hurricanes to strike the US as a Category 5?
Four
The others were the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Andrew in 1992 and Michael in 2018.
Q 18Hurricane Betsy of 1965 was the first Atlantic hurricane to do what?
Cause at least $1 billion in damage
Its erratic track and rapid approach gave New Orleans little time to prepare; total damage was about $1.43 billion.
Q 19After Haiti and the US, Hurricane Hazel (1954) killed 81 more people mostly in which city?
Toronto
It struck the Carolinas as a Category 4 and reached Canada as an extratropical storm.
Q 20Which 2019 hurricane ties the 1935 Labor Day hurricane for strongest Atlantic landfall by winds?
Dorian
It stalled over the Bahamas with 185 mph winds and became the islands' worst natural disaster.
Q 24Hurricane Otis made a devastating Category 5 landfall in October 2023 near which Mexican city?
Acapulco
Its explosive intensification caught forecasters off guard, jumping from tropical storm to Category 5 in about a day.
Q 25Which two Atlantic hurricanes are the only ones to reach Category 5 in July?
Beryl (2024) and Emily (2005)
Beryl broke a string of formation and intensity records in the extremely active 2024 season.
Q 26Which 2017 storm was the easternmost major hurricane on record in the Atlantic, later battering Ireland?
Ophelia
It was regarded as the worst storm to affect Ireland in 50 years.
Q 27Which 2005 storm made a rare landfall on the Iberian Peninsula after forming over water thought too cold?
Vince
It arrived in Spain as a tropical depression and its remnants drifted into the Mediterranean.
Q 28How many Greek-letter names did the National Hurricane Center use in the record 2005 season?
Six
The 2020 season went further with 30 named storms and was the last to use the Greek alphabet.
Q 29How many named storms formed in the record-setting 2020 Atlantic season?
30
Fourteen became hurricanes and a record-tying seven became major hurricanes.
Q 30Herbert Saffir came up with his wind scale while doing what job in 1969?
A UN study of low-cost housing
Robert Simpson, then NHC director, added the storm surge and flooding effects; the scale went public in 1973.