MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Hurricane Season begins Thursday and lasts through the end of November. While we don't suffer through Hurricane Season like coastal cities in the U.S--we can still get remnants of storms, right here in the Mid-South.
The Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale resembles what we use to determine tornadoes. It's different, but, very similar. Anything weaker than 74 mph, but greater than 39 mph is considered a tropical storm.
A category 1 hurricane has wind speeds from 74 to 95 mph. A category 5 hurricane has winds greater than 157 mph and you can expect catastrophic damage.
The United States has seen its fair share of strong hurricanes. But, here's a list of the top 6 strongest hurricanes.
1. The worst was Hurricane Patricia in 2015. During the strongest point during the storm, winds were higher than 210 mph. It made landfall as a Category 4 in Southwest Mexico.
2. Hurricane Wilma (2005)
3. Hurricane Gilbert (1988)
4. "Labor Day" Hurricane (1935)
5. Hurricane Rita (2005)
6. Hurricane Allen (1980)
After hurricanes make landfall, the damage is assessed and they are obviously very costly. The most expensive hurricane in history, since the 1900s, was Hurricane Katrina. The storm caused 190 Billion dollars worth of damage. Just last year, Hurricane Ian made the list, causing 112.9 billion dollars worth of damage in Florida. The storm made landfall as a category 5.
From Arlene to Whitney, the 2023 hurricane season name list has been dropped.
Two names have been removed from the hurricane name rotation. World Meteorological Organization's Hurricane Committee retired Fiona and Ian from the list of rotating names because of the death and destruction they caused in 2022. They will be replaced by Farrah and Idris in 2028.
NOAA is predicting that we will have an average hurricane season this year. Some experts say that there might be 2 major hurricanes this season. We will wait and see how their guesses turn out.