Watches Issued In Caribbean For Future Ernesto

The strongest hurricanes in Atlantic Basin history span the gamut from the Great Depression to present day.

Improvements in technology, including satellites and Hurricane Hunter aircraft instruments, make it challenging to draw apples-to-apples comparisons of hurricanes in recent years with those in the 19th and early 20th century.

Despite that, here is a list of the strongest hurricanes in the record books, including new member Hurricane Milton, which joined the exclusive club last year.

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There are two primary metrics to rank a hurricane's intensity: surface pressure and wind speed.

Surface Pressure: One of these metrics is the lowest pressure measured at the surface. Generally, the lower the pressure the stronger the hurricane.

Meteorologists talk about pressure in units called millibars rather than inches of mercury. An average pressure at sea level is about 1013 millibars.

Below are the top three strongest storms, in terms of surface pressure.

1. Wilma (2005): 882 millibars

2. Gilbert (1988): 888 millibars

3. "Labor Day" Hurricane (1935): 892 millibars

Wilma set the record in October 2005 while over the western Caribbean Sea. Wilma's extreme intensity also set a record for the smallest documented eye size, only 2.3 miles wide. According to NOAA's Hurricane Research Division, an average eye is 20 to 40 miles wide.

The 1935 Labor Day hurricane was the only one of these storms to make landfall in the U.S. at peak intensity. It ransacked the Florida Keys with maximum sustained winds estimated at 185 mph and a storm surge reaching 20 feet. It remains America's strongest hurricane landfall on record.

Its winds and surge caused 408 deaths, primarily among World War I veterans who were working on construction in the area.

(MORE: Five Most Intense U.S. Hurricanes)

The only other 3 hurricanes that have dropped below 900 millibars were Hurricane Rita in 2005 (895 mb), Hurricane Milton in 2024 (897 mb) and Hurricane Allen in 1980 (899 mb). It's an elite club.

The strongest storms in terms of wind speed: Another metric used to rank hurricanes is their peak sustained winds. In most cases today, these winds are measured by reconnaissance aircraft missions, since these top-end hurricanes most often happen either in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf, or the southwest Atlantic Ocean within reach of these aircraft.

1. Allen (1980): 190 mph

2-5. "Labor Day" (1935), Gilbert (1988), Wilma (2005) and Dorian (2019): 185 mph

6-9. Mitch (1998), Rita (2005), Irma (2017) and Milton (2024): 180 mph

(MORE: The History Of Category 5 Atlantic Hurricanes)

Before Milton, the most recent of these was Hurricane Dorian, which reached its peak intensity as it slammed into Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas on Sept. 1, 2019. Dorian then slowed to an agonizing crawl, dealing a catastrophic blow to the northwest Bahamas.

Some honorable mentions for 175 mph peak winds include Katrina (2005), Andrew (1992) before it slammed into Eleuthera in the Bahamas, and Maria (2017) while it was south of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The world records: If we expand out from the Atlantic Basin, the global records for lowest pressure and winds are incredible.

The lowest surface pressure measured in any tropical cyclone was 870 millibars in Super Typhoon Tip in 1979. That's 12 millibars lower (stronger) than 2005's Hurricane Wilma.

Tip was also the largest tropical cyclone on record, and its size could blanket much of the western U.S.

The global sustained wind speed record happened more recently. Hurricane Patricia reached maximum sustained winds of 215 mph off the coast of southwest Mexico in October 2015. It was also just 2 millibars shy of tying Tip for the global low pressure record, bottoming out at 872 millibars.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. His lifelong love of meteorology began with a close encounter from a tornado as a child in Wisconsin. He studied physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then completed his Master's degree working with dual-polarization radar and lightning data at Colorado State University. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on X/Twitter, Facebook and Threads.