Tropical Wave Could Be Next Tropical Depression

Category 5 hurricanes occupy the most elite status in the Atlantic Basin. One hundred years of history has shown they have preferred locations and times of year, but there are also outliers, especially in recent years.

Erin joined the list this year: This hurricane's intensity went up and down as it dotted across the Atlantic, but on August 16, 2025, it exploded into a Category 5 while located just north of the Virgin Islands.

Erin didn't remain Category 5 for long. Shortly after its extreme intensification, the storm underwent a metamorphosis in structure and slowly weakened.

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Category 5 is the highest rating a hurricane can reach: Maximum sustained winds of 157 mph or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale are required for a hurricane to reach this intensity. If you're more familiar with the EF scale for tornadoes, that's equivalent to estimated winds in an EF3 tornado or stronger.

Prior to Erin, there had only been 41 such Cat 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin since 1924, according to NOAA's historical database.

Fourth year in a row: Erin marks the fourth year in a row there has been at least one Cat 5 Atlantic hurricane.

Beryl and Milton both saw some time in 2024 as a Category 5 in the Caribbean and Gulf, respectively.

In September 2023, Hurricane Lee briefly reached Cat 5 status east of the Lesser Antilles in the central Atlantic Ocean.

And the previous September, Hurricane Ian again briefly attained Cat 5 intensity before slamming into southwest Florida as a strong Cat 4 with 150 mph winds just seven hours later.

There have been 11 Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes since 2016: Besides Erin, Milton, Beryl, Lee and Ian, this most recent spate of Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes also includes Dorian and Lorenzo in 2019, Michael in 2018, Maria and Irma in 2017 and Matthew in 2016.

That four-year streak from 2016 though 2019 with at least one Category 5 hurricane was the most consecutive years on record. We've now tied that with 2022 to 2025.

There have been long "droughts" as well: Prior to 2016's Matthew, the Atlantic went eight consecutive hurricane seasons without a Category 5. There was another eight-year stretch between hurricanes Allen and Gilbert from 1980 to 1988.

They are most common in the peak of hurricane season: September is when Category 5 hurricanes have occurred most often, by far. But they have also happened at least a half dozen times each in August and October.

This encompasses the most active period of hurricane season. That's because all of the favorable conditions and ingredients for development are most likely to overlap over a large area of the Atlantic Basin.

Hurricane Beryl was the earliest Category 5 on record (July 1-2) in 2024. The Cuba hurricane of 1932 was the record latest-in-season Category 5 and the only one in November (Nov. 5-8).

Here's where in the Atlantic they have most commonly formed: The map below shows locations where hurricanes have reached Category 5 intensity in red segments, including Hurricane Beryl.

Other than the oddity that was 2019's Hurricane Lorenzo in the far eastern Atlantic, you'll notice almost all of them happen in the same general area, from the southwest Atlantic Ocean north of the Lesser Antilles into the Caribbean Sea and Gulf.

These areas are so conducive to strengthening because they have a supply of deep, warm ocean water, lack hostile shearing winds in the heart of hurricane season and feature a parade of disturbances known as tropical waves, which act as seeds for development. The supply of deep, warm ocean water that serves as fuel for hurricanes is highest in the Atlantic Basin in these areas, particularly the Caribbean Sea.

Hurricanes don't hold onto Category 5 intensity for long: On average, a hurricane maintains Category 5 status for just under 24 hours.

That's because intense hurricanes typically undergo one or more eyewall replacement cycles. During one of these, the hurricane's intense ring of thunderstorms around its eye is surrounded by a new outer ring.

When that happens, the hurricane's wind intensity drops temporarily as the former eyewall is choked off. It usually intensifies again when the new outer eyewall is pulled inward, leading to a larger hurricane.

Several Category 5 hurricanes reached that intensity multiple times during their lifetime.

Hurricanes Allen (1980), Isabel (2003) and Ivan (2004) each soared to Category 5 intensity three separate times in their journeys.

The November 1932 Cuba hurricane (78 hours) and Hurricane Irma in 2007 (77 hours) spent the longest combined time at Category 5 strength, according to NOAA's database.

Only four hurricanes on record have made landfall in the mainland U.S. at Category 5 intensity: The most recent of these was Hurricane Michael in the Florida Panhandle in October 2018.

The others include Andrew in 1992 in South Florida, Camille in 1969 on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane in the Florida Keys.

Hurricane Ian very nearly did that in 2022, but ticked down to a still-intense Category 4 hurricane when it made landfall.