NOAA Upgrades Michael to Category 5 Hurricane at Landfall

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Hurricane Center conducted a detailed post-storm analysis on all the data available for Hurricane Michael and have determined that the storm’s estimated intensity at landfall was 140 knots (160 mph). This final wind intensity is a 5 knot (5 mph) increase over the operational estimate, making Michael a category 5 storm at the time of landfall on October 10, 2018, near Mexico Beach, Florida (Michael was previously classified as a category 4 storm at the time of landfall). Michael is the first hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. as a category 5 since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and only the fourth on record. It is also the strongest hurricane landfall on record in the Florida Panhandle and only the second known category 5 landfall on the northern Gulf coast. Michael produced devastating winds and storm surge and was directly responsible for 16 deaths and about $25 billion in damage in the U.S.