Ranking the Most Powerful Hurricanes of All Time

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The National Hurricane Center is tracking a low pressure system in the Atlantic Ocean that could become the first hurricane of the 2024 season. Located far in the Atlantic, the disturbance has a 90% chance of becoming a tropical depression or tropical storm later Friday or Saturday, the NHS noted. Then it is expected to move westward at 15 to 20 mph and approach the Lesser Antilles by the end of the weekend.

In general, forecasters at the National Weather Service predict above-normal hurricane activity for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season (from June 1 to Nov. 30). They expect eight to 13 hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher) in the season, including four to seven major hurricanes (category 3, 4, 5; with winds of 111 mph or higher).

One way to measure the intensity of a hurricane is using atmospheric pressure. On a basic level, the lower the atmospheric pressure, the more intense the hurricane. The reason is that in a depression, air is rising around the low, cools and condenses, forming clouds and rain and snow. As the amount of rising air increases, air from the sides rushes in to replace the rising air near the center of the storm. The stronger the rising of air in the center, the faster the air must rush in from the sides, causing strong winds.

To find the most powerful hurricanes of all time, 24/7 Wall St. used data from NOAA ‘s HURDAT2 Best Track Data dating back to 1851 to update a previous ranking we did. We ranked tropical cyclones formed in the Atlantic and the Pacific based on estimated central pressure at time of landfall for all hurricanes. Hurricanes were ranked according to their minimum pressure in millibars.

For context, the average sea level air pressure is about 1013 millibars , but the 57 storms on the list had minimum pressure of 942 millibars or lower. (Also see, Every Billion Dollar Weather Disaster in the US in the Past Year .)

The earliest hurricane on the list is the “Last Island Hurricane” of August 1856. The hurricane made landfall on Last Island, Louisiana, with winds at 150 mph and a low pressure of 934 millibars. Overall, the hurricane, which ranks 31 on the list, resulted in at least 300 fatalities.

The latest hurricane on the list is Hurricane Otis in late October 2023. The hurricane produced catastrophic damage when it made landfall near Acapulco, Mexico, as a category 5 hurricane. At landfall, it had a pressure of just 929 millibars and wind of about 160 mph. Otis, which ranks 17 on the list, caused at least 52 fatalities and an estimated $12–16 billion of damage in Mexico,

Interestingly, 26 of the 57 hurricanes on the list are from this millennia, year 2000 or later, including eight from this decade -- 2020 or later.

Why are we covering this

Hurricanes cause significant devastation. They cause damage to property and are dangerous to humans, often leaving death and destruction in their wake. While we often hear of the wind speed during a hurricane, a reason for these winds is the low pressure at the center.

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