ONLY 3 US CATEGORY 5 LANDFALLS LAST CENTURY!!

[AussieMark]

I was going through the unisys Tropical Storm archives and saw that even though there were 3 category 5 landfalls during the last century there could have been more.

1947 #4 http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/1947/4/track.gif

1960 Ethel http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/1960/ETHEL/track.gif

1961 Carla http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/1961/CARLA/track.gif

1967 Beulah http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/1967/BEULAH/track.gif

1980 Allen http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/1980/ALLEN/track.gif

[Deenac813]

Didnt they reclassify Andrew as a Category 5?? I thought I read something about that.. maybe it is just too early in the morning to be thinking

[weatherluvr]

I thnk he counted Andrew in the 3 he said did hit ('35, Camille, Andrew).

Not sure what you meant by "could have"... did you mean they almost did make it to the coast as a cat 5, or that they should have counted as landfalling cat 5's? They all weakened some before landfall.

[JetMaxx]

The only three landfalling U.S. cat-5's since 1851 are:

1) 1935 Labor Day hurricane (Florida Keys)

2) Hurricane Camille (Mississippi/ Louisiana 1969)

3) Hurricane Andrew (Florida 1992)

There was also an August 1886 hurricane in central Texas (Matagorda Bay area) that was recently rated borderline cat-4/5 by the NOAA HURDAT project....sustained winds estimated at 155 mph (135 kts) and a central pressure of 925 mb.

The severe October 11, 1846 Key West hurricane was also likely a category 5 hurricane....based on a central pressure reading of 917 mb (27.08") and 15' storm surge (meaning a 155-160 mph hurricane in that area)....that obliterated the lower Keys (and caused major damage to the entire Florida west coast south of Cedar Key).

[AussieMark]

I thnk he counted Andrew in the 3 he said did hit ('35, Camille, Andrew).

Not sure what you meant by "could have"... did you mean they almost did make it to the coast as a cat 5, or that they should have counted as landfalling cat 5's? They all weakened some before landfall.

I meant if conditions had maintained there could have been more Category 5 lanfalls than were observed last century.

[Stormsfury]

The only three landfalling U.S. cat-5's since 1851 are:

1) 1935 Labor Day hurricane (Florida Keys)

2) Hurricane Camille (Mississippi/ Louisiana 1969)

3) Hurricane Andrew (Florida 1992)

There was also an August 1886 hurricane in central Texas (Matagorda Bay area) that was recently rated borderline cat-4/5 by the NOAA HURDAT project....sustained winds estimated at 155 mph (135 kts) and a central pressure of 925 mb.

The severe October 11, 1846 Key West hurricane was also likely a category 5 hurricane....based on a central pressure reading of 917 mb (27.08") and 15' storm surge (meaning a 155-160 mph hurricane in that area)....that obliterated the lower Keys (and caused major damage to the entire Florida west coast south of Cedar Key).

Perry, you've got to get me information on the October 11th, 1846 Key West Hurricane for future study.

The 1886 hurricane that Perry alluded to was dubbed the Indianola hurricane. In fact, the damage was so severe there, they never rebuilt the town. Also, the Indianola Hurricane (155 mph) was the strongest hurricane reanalyzed in the 1851-1910 project to make landfall in this timeframe. The original best track data analyses had only three wind categories for tropical cyclones early in the period. They were 50, 85, and 100 mph or in other words, a very generalized wind velocity.

More info: This hurricane destroyed the town of Indianola, Texas due to its winds and 15' storm surge and the town was never rebuilt. This was also the strongest hurricane of record anywhere in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean Sea during the same time period. (No Category 5 hurricanes were recorded to have hit the United States between 1851 and 1910. However, records are somewhat incomplete along in Gulf coast and Florida because there were some coastal regions with few to no inhabitants, thus there may have been some systems mis-diagnosed in intensity in that period.) 31 major (Category 3, 4 and 5) hurricanes are recorded to have hit the United States from 1851 to 1910.

7 landfalling hurricanes or the busiest season for landfalling U.S. hurricanes on reanalysis.

The Indianola Hurricane Best Track

[JetMaxx]

Mike, where I learned the 1846 hurricane may have been a cat-5 was in the book "Florida's Hurricane History" by Jay Barnes...published by the University of North Carolina press.