Hurricane History

A Picture of a Sign Saying Hurricane Season

This section of our website is dedicated to hurricanes that made history. While every hurricane can cause devastating losses, some hurricanes are so devastating and create so much loss of life they become historic and infamous.

This archive of historic hurricanes is focused on the ones that broke records for intensity, wind speed, loss of life, damage and life span. As hurricanes form and dissipate we’ll update this archive to reflect the record breakers.

The below list of historic hurricanes is in descending order of the year they occurred. If two notable hurricanes occurred in the same year then they are in order by name, in alphabetical order.

2017 Hurricane Irma

Hurricane Irma was a category 5 hurricane during the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season. It formed on August 30th, 2017 and dissipated on September 13th, 2017. The storm reached 1-minute sustained winds of 180 mph (285 km/h) and its lowest recorded pressure was 914 mbar (hPa). This hurricane caused $77.16 billion (2017 USD) in damage and resulted in at least 52 direct fatalities. View more Hurricane Irma Facts.

2017 Hurricane Maria

Hurricane Maria was a category 5 hurricane during the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season. It formed on September 16th, 2017 and dissipated on October 2nd, 2017. The storm reached 1-minute sustained winds of 175 mph (280k m/h) and its lowest recorded pressure was 908 mbar (hPa). This hurricane caused $91.61 billion (2017 USD) in damage and resulted in 3,000+ fatalities. View more Hurricane Maria Facts.

2012 Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy was a category 3 hurricane during the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season. It formed on October 22nd 2012 and dissipated on November 2nd 2012. The storm reached 1-minute sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) and its lowest recorded pressure was 940 mbar (hPa). This hurricane caused $68.7 billion (2012 USD) in damage and resulted in at least 233 fatalities. View more Hurricane Sandy Facts.

2008 Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike was a category 4 hurricane during the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season. It formed on September 1st, 2008 and dissipated on September 15th, 2008. The storm reached 1-minute sustained winds of 145 mph (233 km/h) and its lowest recorded pressure was 935 mbar (hPa). This hurricane caused $38 billion (2008 USD) in damage and resulted in at least 214 fatalities.

2005 Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina was a category 5 hurricane during the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season. It formed on August 23rd 2005 and dissipated on August 31st 2005. The storm reached 1-minute sustained winds of 175 mph (281 km/h) and its lowest recorded pressure was 902 mbar (hPa). This hurricane caused $125 billion (2005 USD) in damage and resulted in 1,245 to 1,836 fatalities. View more Hurricane Katrina Facts.

2005 Hurricane Stan

Hurricane Stan was a category 1 hurricane during the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season. It formed on October 1st, 2005 and dissipated on October 5th, 2005. The storm reached 1-minute sustained winds of 80 mph (130 km/h) and its lowest recorded pressure was 977 mbar (hPa). This hurricane caused $3.96 billion (2005 USD) in damage and resulted in 1,600+ fatalities.

2005 Hurricane Wilma

Hurricane Wilma was a category 5 hurricane during the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season. It formed on October 16th, 2005 and dissipated on October 27th, 2005. The storm reached 1-minute sustained winds of 185 mph (137 km/h) and its lowest recorded pressure was 882 mbar (hPa). This hurricane caused $27.4 billion (2005 USD) in damage and resulted in at least 87 fatalities.

1992 Hurricane Andrew

Hurricane Andrew was a category 5 hurricane during the 1992 Atlantic Hurricane Season. It formed August 16, 1992 and dissipated on August 28, 1992. The storm reached 1-minute sustained winds of 175 mph (281 km/h) and its lowest recorded pressure was 922 mbar (hPa). This hurricane caused $27.3 billion (1992 USD) in damage and resulted in at least 65 fatalities. View more Hurricane Andrew Facts.