Strongest Hurricanes to Hit the US: Every Category 5 Landfall (Mapped)

Every Category 5 landfall on US soil, the most intense landfalls ranked by pressure, and what the record means for losses.

Four Category 5 hurricanes have made landfall in the continental United States since records began in 1851: the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Camille in 1969, Andrew in 1992 and Michael in 2018. The last Category 5 hurricane to hit the US mainland was Michael, which came ashore near Mexico Beach, Florida, on October 10, 2018. The strongest hurricane ever to hit the US is the Labor Day hurricane of 1935: 892 millibars and an estimated 185 mph when it crossed the Florida Keys. Counting US territories, Puerto Rico has had one Category 5 landfall (1928), and the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam have taken Category 5 typhoons, most recently Bavi on July 6, 2026.

This page is the standing record. It lists every Category 5 landfall, ranks the most intense US landfalls by central pressure, maps each track, and shows how early DisasterAWARE's archive was tracking each of the strongest US landfalls since 1998. It also covers the point that matters most to anyone carrying hurricane risk: the Saffir-Simpson category at landfall is a poor guide to the loss.

Every Category 5 Hurricane Landfall in the US

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale puts a hurricane in Category 5 when its maximum sustained (one-minute) winds reach 137 knots (157 mph) or more. NOAA's list of continental US hurricane landfalls from 1851 to 2025, maintained by its Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and last revised in September 2026, records exactly four Category 5 landfalls:

Wind and pressure are from the NHC HURDAT2 best track's landfall records and match the AOML table. Dates are local; Camille's and the Labor Day hurricane's landfalls fell after midnight UTC, on August 18, 1969 and September 3, 1935.

• Labor Day hurricane, 1935. The most intense hurricane on record to strike the United States. The 892 mb pressure reading was taken during the eye's passage over the Keys, and NOAA puts its maximum sustained winds at 185 mph. More than 400 people drowned, many of them World War I veterans working on the Overseas Highway.
• Camille, 1969. Came ashore on the Mississippi coast late on August 17 and produced a 24.6-foot storm tide at Pass Christian, Mississippi, according to the National Weather Service. A 2014 NHC reanalysis kept it at Category 5, revising its landfall winds down from 190 mph to 175 mph and its pressure from 909 mb to 900 mb. That makes it the second most intense US landfall on record.
• Andrew, 1992. Struck southeast Dade County (now Miami-Dade) in the early morning of August 24. It was rated Category 4 (145 mph) for a decade. In August 2002, NOAA's Best Track Committee raised its landfall winds to 165 mph, making Andrew the third Category 5 on record to strike the continental US. NOAA's figures at the time were 23 direct deaths in Florida and Louisiana and about $25 billion in damage (1992 dollars).
• Michael, 2018. The National Hurricane Center's post-storm analysis raised Michael's landfall intensity to 140 kt, making it a Category 5. It is the strongest landfall on record in the Florida Panhandle, only the second known Category 5 landfall on the northern Gulf Coast, and the latest in the year that a Category 5 has hit the US. In Mexico Beach, 1,584 of the town's 1,692 buildings were damaged and 809 destroyed, and storm surge inundated normally dry ground there to as much as 14 feet. NHC attributes 16 direct deaths and about $25 billion in US damage to Michael.

How rare is that? Four Category 5 landfalls in the 175 seasons from 1851 to 2025, and three of them from 1969 onward. Michael was the first in 26 years. Eight years later, it is still the most recent.

The Strongest Hurricanes to Hit the US, Ranked by Pressure

Wind speeds at landfall carry real uncertainty: Andrew gained 20 mph in a reanalysis, and Camille lost 15 mph. Central pressure is the other yardstick. NOAA's long-running list of the most intense US hurricanes ranks them by central pressure at landfall, using it as a proxy for intensity because of the uncertainties in maximum wind. Here is every continental US landfall at 931 mb or lower: the ten lowest, plus a three-way tie at 931 mb.

Source: NOAA AOML "Continental United States Hurricane Impacts/Landfalls 1851–2025" (pressure at landfall) and NHC HURDAT2 landfall records. Excluded: storms the table flags as making landfall in Mexico or as not making a US landfall. Wind in mph follows NHC's convention of rounding to the nearest 5 mph.

Three things stand out:

1. Katrina is the outlier. It had the fourth-lowest landfall pressure on record but only Category 3 winds. NHC's report attributes the relatively weak winds for such a low pressure to Katrina's broadening pressure field on August 29: its 920 mb is the lowest pressure on record in the Atlantic for a 110-knot storm.
2. Florida dominates. Eight of the 13 landfalls came ashore in Florida, seven of them in the Keys or southeast Florida.
3. Recent storms are in the list. Three of the 13 have come since 2017: Irma (2017), Michael (2018) and Ida (2021).

The Map: Every Category 5 Track, the Lowest-Pressure Landfalls and Their Wind Fields

The map draws each storm's NHC best track, coloured by Saffir-Simpson category at each 6-hourly fix, with a dot at the US landfall. Click a dot for the landfall time (UTC), wind, pressure and pressure rank. The wind radii layer (off by default) shows the 34-, 50- and 64-knot wind fields at landfall for the five mapped storms since 2004 that DisasterAWARE's archive holds with wind-radii fixes: Katrina, Irma, Maria, Michael and Ida. For Michael, Irma, Maria and Ida these are NHC best-track radii at the landfall fix; for Katrina they are interpolated (IBTrACS) to its 11:10 UTC landfall between the 06 and 12 UTC best-track fixes. The 1928 Puerto Rico position and Maria's landfall fall on the same spot, so the 1928 dot sits inside Maria's.

Open map full screen ↗

Explore the map: switch on more layers with the layers icon at the bottom right of the map: wind swaths (34, 50 and 64 kt) and wind radii at peak for the five storms since 2004; USGS high-water marks (2,688; zoom in to see them); tide gauges within 150 km of landfall, with peak water and surge; WPC storm-total rainfall at gauges with 3 inches or more (zoom in); NHC and NWS hurricane watches and warnings (ALERT) for Irma, Maria, Michael and Ida; and infrared satellite at peak and radar at landfall.

What the map can and cannot show, by era. Every storm has a best track and a landfall point. The extra layers thin out going back in time. Gauge storm totals from NOAA's Weather Prediction Center cover 11 of the storms from 1919 to 2018 (only the maximum for Ida and Maria), and tide gauges within 150 km of landfall add peak water and surge for 10 storms from 1919 on. Infrared satellite images at peak start in 1980 (Andrew onward) and radar at landfall in 1995 (Katrina onward; none for Puerto Rico). Wind swaths, radii at peak and USGS high-water marks cover the five storms since 2004, and aircraft centre fixes and NHC and NWS warnings cover the four since 2017; the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive holds none of the NWS coastal hurricane or tropical-storm warnings for Katrina. For Camille, the map adds the 24.6-foot storm tide at Pass Christian; for Indianola (1886), the best track itself is the record.

Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Pacific Territories

The AOML table covers the continental US only. Outside it:

• Puerto Rico has had one Category 5 landfall: San Felipe Segundo, September 13, 1928. The same storm became the Okeechobee hurricane in Florida days later. HURDAT2 puts its centre over southeastern Puerto Rico at 140 kt (160 mph). NHC's report on Michael counts it as tied with Michael for the fourth-strongest hurricane to strike the United States, including Puerto Rico, since 1900.
• Maria (2017) was a Category 4 in Puerto Rico, not a Category 5. It crossed the southeast coast near Yabucoa on September 20, 2017 at about 135 kt (155 mph) and 920 mb, according to NHC. That was just below the Category 5 threshold, after an eyewall replacement. Hours earlier, Maria peaked at 150 kt and 908 mb about 25 nautical miles south of St. Croix. NHC calls it the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Puerto Rico since 1928.
• The US Virgin Islands had two near misses in two weeks of 2017. Irma's centre crossed the British Virgin Islands at 155 kt on September 6, 2017 (HURDAT2), passing roughly 30 km north of St. John by our calculation from the best-track positions. Maria passed south of St. Croix at peak strength. Neither centre crossed US soil at Category 5.
• Hawaii has never had a Category 5 landfall. Iniki (1992), which the Central Pacific Hurricane Center calls the most powerful hurricane to strike the islands in recent history, crossed Kauai as a Category 4. CPHC's report puts the eye over Kauai's south coast just east of Waimea at 3:30 p.m. HST on September 11, 1992, with estimated maximum sustained winds over land of 140 mph.
• Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands sit in the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center's best tracks (in NOAA's IBTrACS archive) put Karen (1962) at 150 kt within about 10 km of Hagåtña, Guam, and Yutu (2018) at 150 kt; NASA described it as a direct hit on Tinian and Saipan. On July 6, 2026, Super Typhoon Bavi's eye passed directly over Rota. The National Weather Service in Guam rated it a catastrophic Category 5 with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph as the eyewall crossed the island (advisories 20 and 20A, 7:29 and 10:52 a.m. local time). JTWC has not yet issued its final best track; its operational estimate, carried provisionally in NOAA's IBTrACS archive, is about 150 kt (148–151 kt around the passage). Western Pacific winds are JTWC one-minute estimates, in the modern era mostly from satellite, and are not directly comparable with aircraft-measured Atlantic landfalls.

Strongest Hurricane to Hit Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas

The AOML table also gives each storm's category state by state. For the four Gulf states:

• Florida: three Category 5s (the Labor Day hurricane in 1935, Andrew in 1992 and Michael in 2018). The strongest is the Labor Day hurricane.
• Mississippi and Louisiana: Camille (1969) is the only Category 5 impact recorded in either state.
• Texas: no Category 5 has ever hit Texas. Eight hurricanes reached Category 4 there, from Indianola (1886) and Galveston (1900) to Carla (1961) and Harvey (2017). Indianola's 925 mb is the lowest Texas landfall pressure in the table.

A full state-by-state guide, covering the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and the Northeast, is planned as its own article.

In the DisasterAWARE Archive Since 1998

DisasterAWARE's historical archive holds 2,964 tropical cyclone records worldwide. 1,990 of them, all from 1998 onward, are enhanced with the IBTrACS best track: every fix with its wind and pressure and, where the agencies published them, quadrant wind radii. Records are alerts, not storms: Irma, for example, has four, two of them shared with Maria.

The table below lists every hurricane from 1998 through the 2025 season that made landfall in one of the 50 states at Category 4 or 5, ranked by NHC's best-track wind at landfall. For each one, it shows how long before that landfall DisasterAWARE first carried the storm, pulled fresh from the Historical Hazards API on October 9, 2026. The 2026 season is covered under 2026 Status below. Puerto Rico and the Pacific territories are covered in their own section above.

Landfall time, state and wind come from NHC's HURDAT2 best-track landfall records; for storms with more than one US landfall, the strongest is shown. "First DisasterAWARE record" is alert-tier: the time from the earliest DisasterAWARE event record for the storm to that landfall. It measures how long the storm had been tracked on the platform, not the lead time of a specific warning.

Michael is the only Category 5 landfall in the 50 states in that period. The strongest landfall just below the table is Katrina's, at 110 kt (Category 3) in Louisiana.

Why Category 5 Isn't the Whole Loss Story

Ranking by landfall wind answers "which storm was strongest?" It does not answer "which storm cost the most?", and for hurricane losses the two lists barely overlap.

• Katrina (2005), a Category 3 at landfall, caused about $125 billion in US damage in 2005 dollars, according to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). It caused nearly 1,400 deaths, 520 of them direct. Its surge high-water mark on the Mississippi coast reached 27.8 feet.
• Harvey (2017), a Category 4 at landfall, stalled with its centre over or near the Texas coast for four days and dropped more than 60 inches of rain over southeastern Texas, according to NHC. NOAA's estimate of its damage is $125 billion (2017 dollars), and NHC ranks it the second-costliest US hurricane after adjusting for inflation, behind only Katrina.
• Ian (2022), a Category 4, caused an estimated $112.9 billion in US damage, making it the costliest hurricane in Florida's history and the third-costliest in US history. Storm surge was its deadliest hazard: 41 of its 66 direct US deaths, with inundation of 10 to 15 feet on Fort Myers Beach.
• Maria (2017), a Category 4 in Puerto Rico, caused about $90 billion in damage in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, according to NOAA.
• Helene (2024), a Category 4 at landfall in Florida's Big Bend, caused an estimated $78.7 billion and at least 250 US deaths. Catastrophic inland flooding that reached the southern Appalachians caused most of its direct deaths: at least 94 of 175. NHC ranks it the seventh-costliest US hurricane, behind Katrina, Harvey, Ian, Maria, Sandy and Ida, none of which was a Category 5 at a US landfall.
• Michael (2018), a Category 5, caused about $25 billion. NHC notes its Category 5 winds were likely felt over only a very small area at and near the coast.

Insured losses tell the same story. Aon's ranking of the costliest US hurricanes by insured loss, published by the Insurance Information Institute (as of January 2026, in 2025 dollars), is led by Katrina ($107.5 billion), Ian ($58.9 billion), Ida ($42.7 billion), Sandy ($42.1 billion) and Harvey ($39.7 billion). Of the ten, only Andrew ($36.9 billion) was a Category 5 at its US landfall, and Michael is not on the list at all.

What separates a $25 billion Category 5 from a $100 billion-plus Category 3 or 4 is size, forward speed, rainfall, surge reach, and what lies under the wind field. None of them is in the category number. Katrina pushed a 24- to 28-foot surge onto the Mississippi coast with Category 3 winds. Harvey's losses came from a four-day stall and Helene's from rain hundreds of miles inland. Ian's surge was its deadliest hazard.

For insurers and reinsurers

• How the record changed the view of the peril. Reanalysis moves landfall intensities years after the fact: Andrew gained 20 mph in 2002, Camille lost 15 mph in 2014, and Michael became a Category 5 in NHC's post-storm analysis. Any historical event set built on wind at landfall should carry the reanalysis version it used. Katrina, Harvey, Ian and Helene all show that the category at landfall misses most of the loss, whether it comes through surge footprint, rain or inland flooding.
• What event-level data exists. For storms since 1998, DisasterAWARE's enhanced records hold the best track with quadrant 34/50/64-kt wind radii (where the agencies published them, generally from 2004) and the time the platform first carried the event. For some storms since 2023, the archive also holds NWS post-storm station maxima for rainfall, storm surge and wind gusts. For 1851–1997, NHC's HURDAT2 best tracks give position, wind and pressure only; HURDAT2 adds quadrant wind radii from 2004.
• What we do not hold. DisasterAWARE's cyclone records carry no casualty or damage figures. Every loss figure on this page is quoted from NOAA, NHC or Aon, with the source named.
• Where to go next. Historical Event Intelligence delivers these storms as structured, location-queryable events. You can request a sample dataset for your portfolio's coastline, for example every hurricane whose 64-kt wind field crossed a site since 2004.

2026 Status

• Category 5 landfalls in the continental US in 2026 so far: none. Hurricane Isaias, the first Atlantic hurricane of the season, made landfall near Destin, Florida, at about 8:30 p.m. CDT on October 9, 2026 (01:30 UTC October 10), as a Category 2 with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph and a central pressure of 971 mb, according to NHC's preliminary estimate. Earlier that day, NHC's 15 UTC advisory had given 120 mph and 959 mb. NHC's final report may revise these figures.
• US territories: Super Typhoon Bavi crossed Rota, Northern Mariana Islands, on July 6, 2026 at Category 5 strength (see above).
• Most recent continental US Category 5 landfall: Michael, October 10, 2018.

This page is updated when a storm enters the Category 5 list or the pressure ranking, when NHC or AOML reanalyses change a listed storm, and when final best tracks replace provisional ones.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Category 5 hurricanes have hit the US? Four have made landfall in the continental United States since records began in 1851: the 1935 Labor Day hurricane (Florida Keys), Camille in 1969 (Mississippi), Andrew in 1992 (southeast Florida) and Michael in 2018 (Florida Panhandle). Counting territories, Puerto Rico had one Category 5 landfall (1928), and Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have taken Category 5 typhoons, most recently Bavi in 2026.

When was the last Category 5 hurricane to hit the US? Hurricane Michael, which made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, on October 10, 2018 with estimated winds of 160 mph. It is the only Category 5 to hit the US mainland since Andrew in 1992. In US territories, Super Typhoon Bavi crossed Rota in the Northern Mariana Islands at Category 5 strength on July 6, 2026.

What is the strongest hurricane to ever hit the US? The 1935 Labor Day hurricane. It crossed the Florida Keys on September 2, 1935 with a central pressure of 892 mb, the lowest at any US landfall on record, and estimated sustained winds of 185 mph.

Has a Category 5 hurricane ever hit Texas? No. The strongest hurricanes to hit Texas were Category 4s, eight of them in NOAA's record, including Indianola (1886), Galveston (1900), Carla (1961) and Harvey (2017). Indianola's 925 mb is the lowest Texas landfall pressure on record.

Was Hurricane Katrina a Category 5? Katrina reached Category 5 over the Gulf of Mexico but weakened before landfall. It came ashore in southeast Louisiana on August 29, 2005 as a Category 3 with 125 mph winds, although its 920 mb pressure ranks fourth-lowest among US landfalls. It remains the costliest US hurricane.

Related Reading

• EF5 Tornadoes: The Complete List, What the Rating Means, and Where 2026 Stands
• Reconstructing Historic Hurricanes
• Hurricane risk in Miami, New Orleans and Houston
• Historical Event Intelligence

Sources: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 Atlantic and Northeast/North Central Pacific best tracks (releases of September 2026); NOAA AOML, "Continental United States Hurricane Impacts/Landfalls 1851–2025" (revised September 2026); NHC Tropical Cyclone Reports for Katrina (updated January 2023), Harvey, Irma, Maria, Michael, Ida, Ian and Helene (updated February 2026); Central Pacific Hurricane Center, Tropical Cyclone Report for the 1992 season (Iniki); NHC, "Re-analysis of 1969's Hurricane Camille completed" (April 1, 2014); NOAA, Hurricane Andrew upgrade release (August 21, 2002); NOAA AOML hurricane blog, Labor Day hurricane 80th anniversary; NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC-6, "The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Tropical Cyclones from 1851 to 2010"; NWS Mobile, Hurricane Camille; NOAA NCEI IBTrACS v04r01 (JTWC best tracks; provisional JTWC operational data for 2026); NWS Guam (Tiyan) Tropical Cyclone Public Advisories 20 and 20A for Super Typhoon Bavi (July 6, 2026); NASA Earth Observatory, Super Typhoon Yutu; NHC Isaias advisory 12 (October 9, 2026); Aon via the Insurance Information Institute, top 10 costliest US hurricanes by insured loss (as of January 2026); DisasterAWARE Historical Hazards API (pulled October 9, 2026).