what was the most huge atlantic hurricane ever

[Mecklenburg]

what was the most huge atlantic hurricane ever by size?

let me correct that because many got the message wrong... it is by size in width... not by wind extent

[Cookiely]

I'll take a guess and say Floyd.

[KWT]

I believe Derek once said in terms of wind size Carla was probably the biggest.

[Mecklenburg]

was ISABEL huge?

[cycloneye]

Gilbert in 1988 was huge.

[RL3AO]

I would guess Gilbert, but its just a guess.

[Emmett_Brown]

Not sure if Floyd was the biggest, but it certainly was huge:

[Derek Ortt]

I think Wilma NE of the Bahamas

[storms in NC]

Floyd was no small cane that is for sure. He was a slow mover too. I think it he was here for 24 hours. But that was almost 9 years ago. We had nothing since here. But they had maybe 2-3 up by Morehead City. So we have been good to not have a hurricane for 9 years now. So maybe we will get by again this year too.

[Stratosphere747]

Great Atlantic Hurricane, 1944.

[EDR1222]

Hurricane Luis in 1995, had a very large swath of Hurricane force winds when it was down near the LeeWard Islands I believe. Not sure how it ranks in terms of overall size.

[Derek Ortt]

Wilma has TS winds extending more than 430NM from the center when east of the Bahamas

[cheezyWXguy]

I know it wasnt very strong, but didnt Florence 2006 have a massive wind field? How far out did winds extend in that storm.

[Honeyko]

I would say Hurricane Allen (1980), simply because it was so big for so long. Eye though the eye itself never hit anything prior to Kennedy Co TX, the storm raked most of the Caribbean pretty bad.

[wxman57]

You need to define size. How about the size of the tropical storm force wind field while the TC was fully tropical? We've done quite a bit of research on TC wind field size over the last 3-4 years.

Wilma's average 39 mph wind radius was about 198nm after passing Florida, but it was transitioning to an extratropical storm at that point.
Ivan's TS force wind field at around 26N was just a little bigger than Wilma's at an average of 204nm.
Rita's was 155nm
Katrina's 39 mph wind field maxed out at about 185nm average distance from center.
Isabel's 39 mph wind radius topped out at an average 244nm when it was at 32N.
Gert of 1999 had an average 39 mph radius of 167nm while still in the deep tropics.
Floyd of 1999 had an average 39 mph radius of 205nm east of the Bahamas
Cindy of 1999 had an average 39 mph radius of 235nm at 29N/57W
Fran of 1996 had an average 39 mph radius of 186nm at 28n/75W
Bertha of 1996 had an average 39 mph radius of 213nm near 24N/73W
Roxanne of 1995 had an average 39 mph radius of 184nm in the BoC
Opal of 1995 had an average 39 mph radius of 202nm in the mid Gulf
Luis of 1995 had an average 39 mph radius of 216nm near 29N/70W
Felix of 1995 had an average 39 mph radius of 222nm near 29N/63W
Hugo of 1989 had an average 39 mph radius of 186nm near 29N/86W
Gabriel of 1989 had an average 39 mph radius of 250nm near 29N/60W
Gilbert of 1988 had an average 39 mph radius of 239nm near 22N/84W
Carla of 1961 had an average 39 mph radius of an estimated 200nm in the NW Gulf

I'm unsure of the nature of Gabriel in 1989. It may have begun to lose tropical characteristics by the time its 39 mph wind field reached 250nm. In that case, Isabel of 2003 would be the winner at 244 nm radius.

[wxman57]

I would say Hurricane Allen (1980), simply because it was so big for so long. Eye though the eye itself never hit anything prior to Kennedy Co TX, the storm raked most of the Caribbean pretty bad.

That's a good possibility. I don't have any reliable wind radii data for Allen, but I believe is was larger than Gilbert.

[masaji79]

I thought i read somewhere that Hurricane Cindy of 1999 has a tropical storm wind field of 266 nm.

[jdray]

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/hes/images/pdf/ ... T_DATA.pdf

Nice link on Allen.
Has wind field maps later in the report. Looking at the ones presented, 40 knots (flight level) were measured at 200nm from center at one point.

Some expert wanna take a look at that PDF?

[Category 5]

Gilbert, Floyd, Allen. Derek is correct about Wilma I believe but I do believe thats when ETT was getting underway.

I've never heard a definative answer as to what was the "Most Huge" Atlantic Hurricane ever.

[Aslkahuna]

It depends upon what the status of the Great Atlantic Hurricane was at its largest because if fully tropical it would be the one.

Steve