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As we remain in the peak of the extremely busy 2020 Hurricane Season, let’s look back at some of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes since records began in 1851.

You don’t have to go far back to find one of the strongest hurricanes ever in the Atlantic Basin. Hurricane Dorian, which devastated the Bahamas in 2019, had peak winds of 185 mph and a minimum central pressure of 910 mb, or 26.87 inches of mercury. Hurricane Dorian is estimated to have cost at least $5 billion in damages and was responsible for 74 deaths in the Bahamas and U.S.

There was another notoriously strong hurricane fifteen years ago, Hurricane Wilma. Like Dorian, Wilma’s sustained winds peaked at 185 mph. Its minimum central pressure of 882 mb or 26.05 inches of mercury is the lowest on record for the Atlantic Basin. Wilma ravaged the Yucatán Peninsula before making landfall in south Florida as a Category 3 hurricane. It is estimated to have cost more than $20 billion in damage in the U.S.

2005 was a record-active hurricane season. Hurricane Katrina, the costliest U.S. hurricane, peaked with sustained winds of 175 mph in the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall in southeast Louisiana as a strong Category 3 hurricane. Its minimum central pressure bottomed out at 902 mb or 26.64 inches of mercury. Katrina cost an estimated $125 billion in damages and was responsible for 1,200 deaths.

Rounding out our list of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes, we will head back 85 years to the “Labor Day” Hurricane of 1935. This storm was the most intense at landfall in the U.S. in terms of pressure, with a minimum central pressure of 892 mb or 26.34 inches of mercury. Sustained winds were estimated to be 185 mph as it made landfall along the Florida Keys. Hundreds of lives were lost due to this storm.

These extremely intense hurricanes all occurred near or during the peak of hurricane season from late August through mid-October. Only time will tell if one of the hurricanes this year set any sort of record for the rest of this record-setting 2020 hurricane season.

Sources: nhc.gov
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Story Image: Hurricane Wilma regional imagery on October 21, 2005. (Wikimedia Commons/NOAA Satellite and Information Service)

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Most Intense Hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin