Notable Tropical Cyclones
Super Typhoon Tip
Tip ranks #1 as the most intense tropical cyclone on record. Tip was located in the northwest Pacific Ocean, which on October 12, 1979 had winds gusting as high as 190 mph (306 kph) and a central pressure of 870 mb (25.69"Hg).
The size of the circulation around Typhoon Tip was approximately 1350 miles (2174 km) across.
If placed over the continental U.S., it would almost cover the western half of the country.
Hurricane Gilbert
September 8-19, 1988. This was one of the strongest hurricanes ever seen in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Gilbert had winds up to 184 mph (296 kph) and a central pressure of 888 mb, which is the second-lowest pressure ever recorded for an Atlantic hurricane.
Gilbert devastated Jamaica as it raked the entire length of the island.
Gilbert hit the Yucatan peninsula shortly after recording the lowest pressure reading. The Yucatan was spared as the eye wall weakened shortly before landfall.
After moving over the Yucatan, the strength of the hurricane diminished from a category 5 to a category 3. It caused serious flooding in the Monterrey region when it made landfall in Northern Mexico.
Hurricane Mitch
Hurricane Mitch will be remembered as the most deadly hurricane to strike the Western Hemisphere in the last two centuries!
Not since the Great Hurricane of 1780, which killed approximately 22,000 people in the eastern Caribbean, was there a more deadly hurricane. Mitch struck Central America with such viciousness that it was nearly a week before the magnitude of the disaster began to reach the outside world.
The death toll reported is 11,000 with thousands of others missing. Though the final death toll will never be known, it is quite likely that Mitch directly killed more people than any Atlantic hurricane in over 200 years. More than three million people were either homeless or severely affected.
Hurricane Andrew
Andrew was a small and ferocious hurricane that brought unprecedented economic devastation along a path through the northwestern Bahamas, the southern Florida peninsula, and south-central Louisiana.
Damage in the United States is estimated to be near $25 billion, making Andrew the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.
The tropical cyclone struck southern Dade County, Florida, especially hard, with violent winds and storm surges characteristic of a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale, and with a central pressure of 922 mb made it the third lowest last century (fourth lowest overall) for a hurricane at landfall in the United States.