2005 North Atlantic hurricane season
Hurricane Emily 2005
Hurricane Emily became the first recorded Atlantic Category 5 hurricane in July in 2005. It crossed the Caribbean and struck Mexico twice, after bringing fresh damage to Grenada less than a year after Ivan.
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161 mph
Jul 17, 2005 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
A July Category 5 in the Caribbean
Emily developed east of the Lesser Antilles on July 11 and reached Grenada as a minimal hurricane three days later. It continued west through the Caribbean and intensified south of Jamaica. The archive records maximum one-minute winds of 140 kt and a central pressure of 929 hPa early on July 17.
Wind and rain damaged or destroyed 2,641 homes in Grenada. Jamaica received heavy rain soon after Hurricane Dennis, while flooding also caused deaths in Haiti and Honduras. Emily's strongest winds remained over the Caribbean before its Mexican approach.
Across the Yucatán and into Tamaulipas
Emily weakened to Category 4 before striking the eastern Yucatán Peninsula on July 18. Officials evacuated tourists and residents, while Pemex removed thousands of workers from offshore platforms. After crossing the peninsula, Emily reorganized over the Gulf of Mexico and reached Tamaulipas on July 20 as a Category 3 hurricane.
Rainfall reached 409 millimeters in Cerralvo, Nuevo León. Floods and landslides isolated more than 100 small towns. Damage across Mexico totaled about Mex$3.427 billion in 2005 currency, and the storm also brought tornadoes and crop flooding to South Texas.
IMPACT
Reported impact
| Deaths | 17 |
|---|
Facts from Wikidata.
US impacts by state
Selected NOAA Storm Events records for hurricane, tropical storm and storm surge events during this storm's archived track. Deaths and injuries include reported direct and indirect impacts. These records are incomplete, particularly for indirect deaths, and are not storm-wide totals. Other hazards and impacts outside the US are excluded.
| State or territory | Deaths | Injuries | Property damage (event-year USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 0 | 0 | Not fully reported |
Property damage is reported in dollars of the event year, without inflation adjustment; crop damage is excluded. A missing value is not zero. These figures do not replace the storm-wide estimates elsewhere on this page.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.
Further reading
NOAA IBTrACS v04r01 historical track archive
Wikipedia, Hurricane Emily (2005)
Official report (PDF) — National Hurricane Center, Tropical Cyclone Report.
QUICK ANSWERS
Emily in brief
What was Hurricane Emily's highest wind speed?
161 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Jul 17, 2005, 12:00 AM UTC.
What category was Hurricane Emily?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Jul 16, 2005, 09:00 PM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Hurricane Emily's lowest pressure?
929 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Jul 17, 2005, 12:00 AM UTC.
When did Hurricane Emily occur?
The archived track runs from Jul 11, 2005, 12:00 AM UTC to Jul 21, 2005, 12:00 PM UTC, with the tropical stage from Jul 11, 2005, 12:00 AM UTC to Jul 21, 2005, 12:00 PM UTC.
Where did Hurricane Emily form?
In the North Atlantic basin, in the 2005 season. Its first archived position is 10.7°N, 42.4°W on Jul 11, 2005, 12:00 AM UTC.
Did Hurricane Emily make landfall?
The archive places its center over land at 2 recorded positions; the strongest is 106 mph on Jul 18, 2005, 09:00 AM UTC. Positions are six-hourly, so this is not a landfall chronology.
How many people died in Hurricane Emily?
17 deaths are recorded by Wikidata.
METHODOLOGY
Data sources and limitations
The map and summary are generated from NOAA's IBTrACS v04r01 archive. Wind and category use US-agency records; minimum pressure is calculated during the tropical stage, with the archive's pressure source retained. Category 5 refers to the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale; local agencies may use different classifications. Coastlines use Natural Earth's 1:10m land data.
Track distance adds great-circle distances between consecutive observations, excluding gaps over 12 hours. This track has no gaps over 12 hours. The line shows the storm's center, not its size, rainfall or flood extent. Converted wind speeds are rounded to the nearest whole unit.
Archive retrieved
NOAA IBTrACS archive and Field documentation
Sources & methodology