Mindblowing hurricane facts

The beginning of June to the end of November is peak hurricane season.

The National Hurricane Center (www.nhc.noaa.gov/dcmi.shtml) classifies a Category 5 as having winds faster than 155 mph on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale with catastrophic damage expected. They are considered uncommon, with only three on record to have actually made landfall in the United States in the 20th century.

The three most powerful by pressure, in order, are:

1. The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, Florida Keys, Sept. 3, 1935; (185+ mph winds)

2. Hurricane Camille, Mississippi coastline; Aug. 17, 1969 (180 mph)

3. Hurricane Andrew, Dade County, Fla., Aug. 24, 1992; originally classified as a Category 4 but in 2002 was upgraded to Category 5 by the NOAA/National Hurricane Center Best Track Committee. (165 mph)

Hurricane Katrina, which hit Southeast Louisiana and Mississippi on Aug. 28, 2005, is classified as a Category 3 storm. However, it is considered the third most-intense storm ranked in pressure behind Labor Day and Camille, the third deadliest in loss of life at 1,500; and the first in monetary damage at $81 billion.

The Category 4 Galveston, Texas, hurricane of 1900 remains the deadliest in loss of life at 8,000. The Category 4 1928 Lake Okeechobee, Fla., storm is second with 2,500 lives lost.

Hurricane Andrew ranks second behind Katrina in monetary damage at $26.5 billion, with Wilma, a Category 3 storm that devastated South Florida in 2005, at $20.6 billion.

Source: National Hurricane Center/NHC 2007 report: “The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Tropical Cyclones 1851-2006”