Strongest October Hurricanes

Hurricane Mitch near peak intensity on October 26, 1998  (Source: NOAA)

There have been some notorious Atlantic hurricanes in October.  Some have impacted the United States and some have not.  The Atlantic Ocean Basin includes the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.

2005: Hurricane Wilma occurred during the busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record.  It was the fourth Category 5 hurricane of the season and the strongest hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean Basin.  It had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph and a minimum central air pressure of 882 millibars (mb).  By comparison, standard sea level air pressure is approximately 1013.25 mb.  Hurricane Wilma weakened and made landfall in southwest Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on October 24.

1998: Hurricane Mitch developed in the southwest Caribbean Sea.  It was the first Category 5 hurricane anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean Basin since Andrew in 1992.  At peak intensity, Mitch had sustained winds of 180 mph with a minimum central air pressure of 905 mb.  Mitch remains tied with 2007’s Hurricane Dean for being the eighth strongest Atlantic hurricane on record.   Hurricane Mitch was at Category 5 intensity for 33 consecutive hours, which made it the longest continuous Atlantic Category 5 hurricane since Hurricane David in 1979.  Mitch caused widespread flooding in Central America that resulted in a catastrophic death toll of more than 10,000 fatalities.

1988: At peak intensity, Hurricane Joan was a powerful Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph and 932 mb.  It was one of the rare storms that survived its trek across Central America and became a tropical storm in the Eastern Pacific.  Once Joan reached the Eastern Pacific, it was given a new name “Miriam” since different oceanic regions have different lists of tropical storm/hurricane names.  Joan also set a record in the Atlantic Ocean for farthest south (12° North latitude) a hurricane reached Category 4 intensity.  That record would stand until Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

1961: Hurricane Hattie was an unusually strong, late season storm reaching Category 5 intensity on October 30 in the southwest Caribbean Sea.  Its maximum sustained winds reached 160 mph with a minimum central air pressure of 920 mb.  Hattie would be the last Category 5 hurricane to form anywhere in the Atlantic until Beulah in September 1967.

Two other October hurricanes get an honorable mention.  Hurricane Hazel remains the only Category 4 hurricane to make landfall in North Carolina (on October 15, 1954).  Due to Hazel’s fast rate of speed, it remained a powerful system well-inland and brought Washington, D.C. its highest wind gust on record (98 mph).  More recently, on October 1, 2016, Hurricane Matthew became the first Category 5 Atlantic hurricane since 2007.  Despite being a considerably weaker storm by the time it impacted the southeastern United States, Matthew still caused widespread damage and flooding.

All of these hurricanes have had their names retired by the World Meteorological Organization.  That means there will never be another “Mitch” or “Matthew.”