2018 North Atlantic hurricane season
Hurricane Michael 2018
Michael strengthened all the way to the Florida Panhandle, arriving near Mexico Beach at Category 5 intensity. Extreme winds and storm surge devastated coastal communities before damage spread inland.
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161 mph
Oct 10, 2018 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
Strengthening through the Gulf
Michael developed from a broad Caribbean disturbance in early October. It became a hurricane near western Cuba on October 8 and moved north into the Gulf of Mexico. Rapid intensification continued on the approach to Florida, with the peak arriving at landfall rather than far offshore.
The archive records sustained winds of 140 knots and a central pressure of 919 millibars at 17:30 UTC on October 10. Michael came ashore near Mexico Beach, bringing catastrophic wind and surge damage to that community and nearby Panama City.
Damage well inland
Homes were flattened and trees fell across a wide area of the Panhandle. Tyndall Air Force Base recorded a gust of 139 miles per hour before its sensors failed. Strong winds continued inland, causing extensive power outages across the southeastern United States and major agricultural losses.
Michael weakened to a tropical storm over Georgia and became extratropical over southern Virginia late on October 11. The remaining system then crossed the Atlantic and later affected the Iberian Peninsula.
IMPACT
Reported impact
| Deaths | 72 |
|---|---|
| Areas affected | United States |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 0 | 0 | $4,358,450.00 |
| Florida | 52 | 0 | $9,900,944,000.00 |
| Georgia | 1 | 0 | Not fully reported |
| Louisiana | 0 | 0 | $0.00 |
| Mississippi | 0 | 0 | $0.00 |
| North Carolina | 0 | 1 | Not fully reported |
| South Carolina | 0 | 1 | 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
Official report (PDF) — National Hurricane Center, Tropical Cyclone Report.
QUICK ANSWERS
Michael in brief
What was Hurricane Michael's highest wind speed?
161 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Oct 10, 2018, 05:30 PM UTC.
What category was Hurricane Michael?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Oct 10, 2018, 05:30 PM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Hurricane Michael's lowest pressure?
919 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Oct 10, 2018, 05:30 PM UTC.
When did Hurricane Michael occur?
The archived track runs from Oct 6, 2018, 06:00 PM UTC to Oct 15, 2018, 06:00 PM UTC, with the tropical stage from Oct 7, 2018, 06:00 AM UTC to Oct 11, 2018, 09:00 PM UTC.
Where did Hurricane Michael form?
In the North Atlantic basin, in the 2018 season. Its first archived position is 17.8°N, 86.6°W on Oct 6, 2018, 06:00 PM UTC.
Did Hurricane Michael make landfall?
The archive places its center over land at 1 recorded position; the strongest is 161 mph on Oct 10, 2018, 05:30 PM UTC. Positions are six-hourly, so this is not a landfall chronology.
How many people died in Hurricane Michael?
72 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