Hurricane Safety and Preparedness

Idalia Becomes 8th US Gulf Coast Major Hurricane Landfall Since 2017

At a Glance

Idalia made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region at Category 3 intensity.
It's the eighth major hurricane landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast since 2017.
The U.S. averaged two major hurricane strikes every three years from 1851 to 2010.

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Idalia has become the eighth major hurricane to landfall on the storm-weary Gulf Coast in the past seven years.

Major hurricanes are Category 3 or stronger on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. In general, the stronger the hurricane, the more likely it is to produce destructive winds and storm surge.

The destructive stretch of majors began with Harvey in 2017: The landfall of Harvey in Texas was followed by Irma in Florida that same year. After that came Michael in 2018, Laura and Zeta in 2020, Ida in 2021 and Ian in 2022.

Idalia added to the list when it made landfall Wednesday morning near Keaton Beach, Florida, as a strong Category 3 with 125 mph winds.

It's been a costly, deadly stretch: The seven major hurricane landfalls prior to Idalia on the Gulf Coast since 2017 caused a combined $477 billion in damage (CPI adjusted), according to NOAA. There have been 531 lives lost because of direct and indirect impacts from those hurricanes.

The major hurricane streak came on the heels of a drought: Prior to Harvey, the U.S. went through a roughly 12-year period without a Category 3 or stronger landfall. Hurricane Wilma in October 2005 was the last one until Harvey came along in 2017.

That said, hurricanes below the Category 3 wind threshold did cause major damage in that time. Hurricane Ike in 2008 was a large Category 2 at landfall in Texas, where it produced catastrophic storm surge.

Here's how often hurricanes and major hurricanes strike the U.S.: About one to two hurricanes usually make landfall each year in the U.S., according to statistics compiled by NOAA.

Major hurricane landfalls in the U.S. are less common, on average.

Before this busy stretch began, the U.S. averaged two major hurricanes every three years making landfall somewhere along the Gulf or Atlantic coasts for the period from 1851 to 2010, according to NOAA.

Chris Dolce has been a senior meteorologist with weather.com for over 10 years after beginning his career with The Weather Channel in the early 2000s.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.