Hurricane Michael Was the Third-Most-Intense Continental U.S. Landfall on Record

(MORE: Complete Coverage of Hurricane Michael)

Michael plowed ashore just after midday Oct. 10, 2018, near Mexico Beach, Florida, packing maximum sustained winds of 160 mph.

With an estimated minimum central pressure of 919 millibars, Michael was the third-most-intense hurricane landfall in the continental U.S., according to NOAA's Hurricane Research Division.

Only a pair of Category 5 landfalls, Hurricane Camille in 1969 and the Florida Keys Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, had a lower central pressure at continental U.S. landfall than Michael.

A hurricane's central pressure is just one metric meteorologists use to put hurricanes into historical context. The lower the pressure, the more intense the hurricane.

Among the hurricane landfalls Michael's central pressure beat out were Katrina (920 millibars), Andrew (922 millibars) and Irma (931 millibars). 

Michael was by far the most intense hurricane to landfall in the Florida Panhandle, according to NOAA's 167-year best-track hurricane database.

Prior to Michael, there were 27 Category 4 or stronger hurricanes that made landfall in the continental U.S. in records dating to 1851, according to NOAA's Hurricane Research Division.

Florida had the most such Category 4-plus landfalls with 13, followed by Texas with 7. All 13 of those Florida landfalls had happened in South Florida prior to Michael.

Prior to Michael, no Category 4 or stronger hurricane made landfall in the U.S. in the 600-plus-mile stretch between Charley's landfall in southwestern Florida and where Camille roared ashore as a Category 5 in Mississippi in 1969.

October Oddity

The majority of continental U.S. Category 4-plus hurricane landfalls have happened in either September or August.

Michael was also the first Category 4-plus continental U.S. hurricane landfall to happen in October in 64 years.

There have been only four other such October landfalls since the mid-19th century:

• Hazel (1954) in the Carolinas
• King (1950) in South Florida
• The Georgia Hurricane (1898)
• Chenier Caminanda Hurricane (1893) in southeastern Louisiana

Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground noted that only Hazel and King made a Category 4 continental U.S. landfall later in the year than Michael. Given both hit with winds of 130 mph, Michael is the strongest U.S. landfalling hurricane on record so late in the year, Masters said.

Michael made landfall more than a month later than the five most intense hurricanes by pressure listed above, according to Bob Henson of Weather Underground.

(MORE: Weather Underground Cat. 6 Blogs)

Exceptionally warm water in the Gulf of Mexico insulated Michael from previously strong wind shear in the Caribbean Sea as the storm was organizing. Over the Gulf of Mexico, winds aloft ventilated the hurricane, allowing it to form an intense inner core of convection to intensify.

Given the historical rarity, intensity and impact, the name Michael was retired from future use in the Atlantic by the World Meteorological Organization. 

This was the third straight "M" hurricane to be retired, following Maria in 2017 and Matthew in 2016.