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Storms That Hit

NHC AL142018 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Michael (2018)

October 6, 2018 – October 15, 2018

Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated

Hurricane Michael peaked at Category 5 with 161 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 861 US cities, 139 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and NWS reports for Michael →

Michael in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Michael for 9 days, from October 6, 2018 to October 15, 2018. Its first position, at 17.8°N 86.6°W, records it as a low; its last, at 41.2°N 10.0°W, as an extratropical cyclone. It reached tropical-storm strength on October 7, hurricane strength on October 8 and major-hurricane strength on October 9. Its peak was 161 mph (140 knots), Category 5, on October 10, and its lowest central pressure was 919 millibars on October 10. It spent about 4 days at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on October 10 at 161 mph (Category 5), 15 miles from Port St Joe, FL. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 861 US cities, in 7 states, most in North Carolina (319) and Georgia (187), between October 10 and October 12. The strongest pass was 161 mph (Category 5) 34 miles from Apalachicola, FL; the centre came closest to Jeffersonville, GA, less than a mile away. 139 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 71 at major-hurricane strength. It reached more US cities than 87% of the 737 storms on this site, and more than any other storm of 2018 on this site.

Peak strength
Category 5

161 mph

Cities within 75 mi
861
At hurricane strength
139

when closest

States
7
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Cities Michael passed near, strongest first

Florida (46)

Alabama (30)

Georgia (187)

and 127 more

Virginia (120)

and 60 more

Maryland (8)

North Carolina (319)

and 259 more

South Carolina (151)

and 91 more

Other storms of the 2018 season

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About this record

The track is the National Hurricane Center's best-track record, revised after the season with every observation available. Strength at a city is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, not the wind that city measured.