How many Category 5 hurricanes are on record
The Atlantic best track lists 44 storms that reached Category 5, with one-minute winds of 157 mph or more, out of 979 hurricanes since 1851: about one hurricane in 22. The eastern and central Pacific file, which starts in 1949, holds 24 among 603 hurricanes. In both basins most of them are recent: 21 of the Atlantic 44 came in 2000 or later.
A short list that starts late
The first Atlantic storm rated Category 5 in the file is Storm 10 of 1924, which peaked at 165 mph. Nothing before it reaches the top category, though the record runs back another 73 years. That gap says more about observation than about the ocean. In the nineteenth century winds were inferred from ship logs and damage, and a ship that met the core of a Category 5 storm often did not report back. The reanalysis that produced HURDAT2 kept estimates conservative where evidence was thin, so the early record caps out lower.
Even after 1924 the list grows slowly: 11 Category 5 storms before 1960, then a steady trickle once satellites and routine aircraft flights could find and measure the strongest cores. One of the Atlantic 44 has no central pressure in the file at all, Storm 4 of 1932, a reminder of how little was measured even in the 1930s.
The Pacific list starts with Patsy (1959), which has no pressure in the file, and then pauses until 1973. After that, Pacific Category 5 storms appear in most decades, as in the Atlantic.
Seasons with more than one
Category 5 storms cluster. The 2005 season holds the record with 4: Emily, Katrina, Rita and Wilma. The 2000s hold the most of any decade, 8, and the 2020s already have 7 after six seasons. In the Pacific the 1990s and 2010s lead with 7 and 7; 1994 and 1997 alone account for 7 of the 24.
Landfall at full strength
Reaching Category 5 and coming ashore at Category 5 are different things. Most of these storms peaked over open water and weakened before land, or never reached land. Only 13 of the 44 Atlantic storms carry a landfall record made at Category 5 strength, and the count cannot include the 1976–1982 seasons, for which the file has no landfall records at all; Anita, David and Allen fall in those years. Four of those landfalls are on United States coasts: Storm 3 of 1935, Camille (1969), Andrew (1992) and Michael (2018). The others struck the Caribbean islands, the Bahamas, the Yucatán Peninsula and Central America.
The Pacific list is even more lopsided. Of its 24 Category 5 storms, one has a Category 5 landfall record: Otis (2023), which came ashore in Guerrero. The others peaked out at sea.
How long they stay at the top
Category 5 is usually a brief peak. Counting the six-hourly records at 00, 06, 12 and 18 UTC with winds of 157 mph or more, the middle Atlantic Category 5 storm spent 18 hours there, and the middle Pacific one 18. For 2 Atlantic storms the top category shows only in an extra record between the regular six-hour steps, so their count is zero: Michael (2018) and Lorenzo (2019).
At the other end, Storm 14 of 1932 and Irma (2017) each held Category 5 for 78 hours, more than three days. In the Pacific, Ioke (2006) leads with 72 hours, built over the open central Pacific. The table lists the longest spells in both files; the first six rows are Atlantic storms, the last four Pacific.
| Storm | Hours at Category 5 |
|---|---|
| Storm 14 of 1932 | 78 hours |
| Irma (2017) | 78 hours |
| Allen (1980) | 72 hours |
| Ivan (2004) | 60 hours |
| David (1979) | 42 hours |
| Mitch (1998) | 42 hours |
| Ioke (2006) | 72 hours |
| Paka (1997) | 60 hours |
| John (1994) | 42 hours |
| Oliwa (1997) | 42 hours |
Long spells at the top go together with large accumulated cyclone energy, which is why the same names, Irma, Ivan and Isabel among them, also lead the energy tables in their seasons.
Every Atlantic Category 5 in the file
The table lists each storm with its peak wind, its lowest central pressure and any coast it reached while still at Category 5. Pressure and wind do not always move together: a large storm can hold a very low pressure with lower winds than a compact one.
| Storm | Peak wind | Lowest pressure | Category 5 landfall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storm 10 of 1924 | 165 mph | 910 mb | – |
| Storm 4 of 1928 | 160 mph | 929 mb | – |
| Storm 4 of 1932 | 160 mph | Not recorded | – |
| Storm 14 of 1932 | 175 mph | 918 mb | – |
| Storm 8 of 1933 | 160 mph | 940 mb | – |
| Storm 14 of 1933 | 160 mph | 929 mb | – |
| Storm 3 of 1935 | 185 mph | 892 mb | Florida |
| Storm 6 of 1938 | 160 mph | 940 mb | – |
| Storm 7 of 1944 | 160 mph | 918 mb | – |
| Carol (1953) | 160 mph | 929 mb | – |
| Janet (1955) | 175 mph | 914 mb | Honduras, Quintana Roo |
| Esther (1961) | 160 mph | 919 mb | – |
| Hattie (1961) | 165 mph | 914 mb | – |
| Inez (1966) | 160 mph | 927 mb | Dominican Republic |
| Beulah (1967) | 160 mph | 923 mb | – |
| Camille (1969) | 175 mph | 900 mb | Mississippi |
| Anita (1977) | 175 mph | 926 mb | – |
| David (1979) | 175 mph | 924 mb | – |
| Allen (1980) | 190 mph | 899 mb | – |
| Gilbert (1988) | 185 mph | 888 mb | Quintana Roo |
| Hugo (1989) | 160 mph | 918 mb | – |
| Andrew (1992) | 175 mph | 922 mb | Bahamas, Florida |
| Mitch (1998) | 180 mph | 905 mb | – |
| Isabel (2003) | 165 mph | 915 mb | – |
| Ivan (2004) | 165 mph | 910 mb | – |
| Emily (2005) | 160 mph | 929 mb | – |
| Katrina (2005) | 175 mph | 902 mb | – |
| Rita (2005) | 180 mph | 895 mb | – |
| Wilma (2005) | 185 mph | 882 mb | – |
| Dean (2007) | 175 mph | 905 mb | Quintana Roo |
| Felix (2007) | 175 mph | 929 mb | Nicaragua |
| Matthew (2016) | 165 mph | 934 mb | – |
| Irma (2017) | 180 mph | 914 mb | Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Martin, British Virgin Islands, Cuba |
| Maria (2017) | 175 mph | 908 mb | Dominica |
| Michael (2018) | 160 mph | 919 mb | Florida |
| Dorian (2019) | 185 mph | 910 mb | Bahamas |
| Lorenzo (2019) | 160 mph | 925 mb | – |
| Ian (2022) | 160 mph | 937 mb | – |
| Lee (2023) | 165 mph | 926 mb | – |
| Beryl (2024) | 165 mph | 932 mb | – |
| Milton (2024) | 180 mph | 895 mb | – |
| Erin (2025) | 160 mph | 913 mb | – |
| Humberto (2025) | 160 mph | 918 mb | – |
| Melissa (2025) | 190 mph | 892 mb | Jamaica |
Reading the numbers
A peak category is the highest the file assigns at any six-hourly record, so a storm that held 160 mph for a single six-hour step counts the same as one that held it for two days. The Atlantic Category 5 page maps all 44 tracks, and the Pacific page the 24 there. For how the categories are assigned from knots, see how to read the record.
Sources
NOAA National Hurricane Center, HURDAT2 Atlantic 1851–2025 and Northeast and North Central Pacific 1949–2025. Landsea, C. W. and J. L. Franklin, 2013, Monthly Weather Review 141, 3576–3592. Counts, ranks and totals worked out on this site; see how to read the record.